The Campaign for Affordable Housing

Concept and vision for new nonprofit organization

People in all sectors of the housing industry know there is a need to promote a more positive image of affordable housing. It is well known that opposition to affordable housing, especially high-density rental housing, makes it difficult and costly to complete projects and undermines efforts to win political support for government housing funding.

Our industry needs to communicate its message more effectively in order to reduce opposition to affordable housing and mobilize supporters who understand the importance of providing housing for people at all income levels. It needs to conduct a consistent, nationwide, public education campaign to put forth the truth about the benefits of affordable housing and dispel the myths. We propose to launch a new, independent, single-purpose nonprofit organization to conduct such an effort.

There are many national housing organizations that help local groups develop housing or lobby their state legislatures, but none are focused solely on helping them win the crucial battle of public opinion. There are also some national groups that conduct public affairs efforts. However, few of these organizations have public education as a primary goal. For most of them, public education is a secondary goal that consists of occasional efforts to contact the news media with public relations material. In addition, their advocacy efforts often consist of fairly complex discussions of housing needs and housing policy that have value for policy makers, but don’t resonate with members of the general public.

We have incorporated this organization in California as "The Campaign for Affordable Housing, Inc." On our letterhead and press releases, we will add the tagline "A Partnership for Public Education." This group would differ from existing groups as follows:

• Public education would be the main focus of all personnel and not a secondary function.
• It would promulgate an overarching message that can be supported by every sector of the housing industry. This can only be done by an organization that has no other agenda and does not represent any one sector of the industry.
• It would have no program or policy agenda and would not engage in lobbying or conduct conferences on housing development or management.

This will be a partnership between corporate leaders, business groups, the housing industry and the media. We hope to rely on the housing industry for seed money, corporate leaders for core financial support and the media for donated advertising time and creative services.

While no national housing organization conducts ad campaigns, a dozen or so regional and statewide groups are doing so or attempting to begin such campaigns. We propose to build on their efforts and help other groups do similar work by creating an ongoing program of advertising, public relations and related support services. We will conduct research to identify appropriate audiences and develop targeted advertising and public relations campaigns based on our findings.

In short, the mission of this organization is to finance, create and disseminate public relations and advertising messages intended to reduce opposition to and mobilize support for affordable housing with the long-term goal of creating a more receptive environment for generating political support for government housing programs and reducing opposition to individual projects.

Elements of The Campaign for Affordable Housing's program are likely to include:

• Providing materials and advice for housing organizations undertaking public education campaigns on affordable housing
• Conducting advertising and public relations campaigns about affordable housing targeted to audiences that are potential supporters. (i.e. Church groups, small business organizations, unions, chambers of commerce).
• Researching the impact of affordable housing and how to influence public opinion.
• Supporting project sponsors with community relations and public relations tools and training.

Crafting a message

Our message will not be about housing needs or policy. We intend to address the underlying negative perceptions about affordable housing and present pro-housing messages to carefully targeted audiences.

The affordable housing industry has a great story to tell. Today’s affordable housing is high-quality real estate that does not look any different than market rate housing. Many assumptions about the negative impact of affordable housing are just plain wrong. Similarly, the general public does not fully understand that affordable housing is generally occupied by working people who are not only good citizens, but are police officers, teachers and other providers of important services.

This effort is inspired partly by the work of the Marin County (Calif.) Consortium for Workforce Housing and Housing Minnesota. Both groups have conducted well-organized and well-executed advertising and public affairs efforts to depict affordable housing as workforce housing that meets the needs of police officers, firefighters, teachers, health workers and city employees.

Methods of operation

The organization will craft and disseminate broadcast and print advertising through carefully selected media outlets using donated or discounted advertising space and time. It will also ask its corporate partners to donate advertising space and time for our pro-housing message from their paid advertising media buys. It is anticipated that major regional or national media will be used very selectively and that most of our efforts will use media that a) target very select groups and b) will offer low- cost or free ads.

The organization will also research and help encourage similar efforts by local housing organizations, chambers of commerce and government associations. In addition, it will work with state and local building industry associations, apartment associations and real estate boards and brokers. Local groups will have far more influence on local media outlets than any national organization can have. The task for a national organization is to furnish local groups and local media with advertising materials and guidance on how to approach the local media for free or discounted ad space and time. We will also help local organizations raise funds and replicate the successes of Marin County and the State of Minnesota’s case studies in building coalitions and enlisting the support of local businesses.

The organization will encourage news media to cover the issues surrounding affordable housing in a way that’s relevant to their service areas. It will not advocate any particular policy or viewpoint but will simply encourage the media to do a better job of looking at this important issue.

While advertising will have a cumulative impact on public attitudes, the real front lines for overcoming community opposition to affordable housing are at planning commission and city council meetings. There are many developers and consultants who know how to deal with such opposition. The organization would package existing advice and information, including sample letters and ads, in what could be called a project sponsor’s Community Relations Tool Kit.

We would use response-oriented ads, and a web site to connect the public to more detailed information and to capture names to build a database of supporters of affordable housing. The organization and its stakeholders could then access the database for help with land use battles or generate political support.

Conclusion

We believe this industry can learn from the communication experts who have helped change American attitudes about drug use, drunk driving, use of seat belts and many other issues. The methods involved are well established. All that is needed is an industry-wide commitment to undertake a long-term effort to finance and coordinate the proposed public education program we have described.

Information

For information, visit The Campaign for Affordable Housing's web site at http://charityadvantage.com/tcah/Home.asp. You may also call Elizabeth Melley Genolio at 800-989-7255 x304 or Andre Shashaty 800-989-7255 x301.

Board of Directors

Charles L. Edson, Nixon Peabody
Conrad Egan, Executive Director, National Housing Conference
Reverend Betty Pagett, Director of Education and Advocacy, Ecumenical Association for Housing
Chip Halbach, Executive Director, Housing Minnesota
Shekar Narasimhan, Managing Director, Prudential Mortgage Capital
Andre F. Shashaty, Publisher, Affordable Housing Finance Magazine

Advisory Board

David Abromowitz, Goulston & Storrs
Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., City and County of San Francisco
Michael Costa, President, Simpson Housing Solutions, LLC
Douglas Crocker, II, Chief Executive Officer, Equity Residential Properties Trust
Steven Fayne, Managing Director, GMAC Commercial Mortgage
Carol Galante, President, Bridge Housing Corporation
Paul Grogan, President and CEO, The Boston Foundation
Carl Guardino, Chief Executive Officer, Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group
Alan Hirmes, Managing Director, Related Capital Company
Thomas Laue, Director of Public Affairs, Illinois Housing Development Authority
Mayor Thomas Menino, City of Boston
Nicolas Retsinas, Director, Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies
Dianne Spaulding, Executive Director, The Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California
Geoffrey L. Stack, Managing Director, SARES-REGIS Group

Financial Supporters

$1,000 - $2,499 sponsors

Conrad Egan, Executive Director, National Housing Conference
Shekar Narasimhan, Managing Director, Prudential Mortgage Capital
David Reznick, Reznick, Fedder & Silverman
Geoffrey Stack, SARES-REGIS Group
Ruth Theobald, Affiliated Capital Corporation
AGM Financial Services, Inc.
Collateral Mortgage Capital. LLC
Judd Levy-The Community Development Trust
Enterprise Social Investment Corporation
Georgianna White Oliver, EverGreen Solutions
JER Hudson Housing Capital LLC
Jack Gardner, President & CEO, The John Stewart Company
Legacy Partners Residential, Inc.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Bernard P. Malone, Malone Mortgage Company
Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition
National Equity Fund, Inc.
National Housing Corporation--Neil J. Rosen, Director of Asset Mgmt.
National Housing Trust
National Leased Housing Association
National Multi Housing Council
Neighborhood Lending Partners, Inc.
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation
Regency Investment Associates, Inc.--Gordon Blackwell, President
Related Companies of California
Gary Kachadurian, RREEF
Simpson Housing Solutions, LLC
Tarragon Realty Investors, Inc.
The Con Am Group
United Dominion Realty Trust

$2,500 - $4,999 sponsors

Jeff Scales, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Alan Hirmes, Stuart Boesky, Marc Schnitzer, Stephen Ross, Denise Kiley, Related Capital Corporation

$5,000 - $9,999 sponsors

GMACCM Affordable Housing Division
Newman & Associates, Inc.

$10,000 and over sponsors

Freddie Mac

Pro Bono Services

Alexander & Edwards Publishing, Affordable Housing Finance Magazine
Nixon Peabody LLP
Novogradac & Company LLP