Affordable Housing & Community Development Institutes and Conference 2019 Wrap-Up
On October 9 and October 10, the San Diego Housing Federation hosted its 29th annual Affordable Housing and Community Development Institutes and Conference at the gorgeous Hilton San Diego Bayfront. The conference attracted about 750 key players last week in the affordable housing and resident services realm to discuss the growing challenges that communities are facing every day. The county's only day-long conference dedicated to building and preserving affordable homes and diverse communities was a platform to train, teach, and share innovative solutions to combat homelessness and the need for more affordable living.
Wednesday, October 9, was a day dedicated to learning as the Resident Services Support Network Institute, Fundamentals of Affordable Housing Institute, and Supportive Housing Learning Network all hosted training and hands-on workshops. These workshops provided innovative solutions to the problems that arise within the different aspects of affordable housing as well as essential training, support, and networking opportunities. PSCDC attends these Institutes annually to re-certify our coordinators and learn new ways to continue giving high-quality services to our residents. This year, PSCDC attended with 22 coordinators from San Diego, Imperial Valley, and Orange County!
Thursday, October 10, was the day of the conference in which more workshops and presentations were offered with exhibits of sponsors filling the halls. This year, the keynote addresses were given by Stephen Russel, Executive Director of San Diego Housing Federation, and Chris Ko, Managing Director of Homelessness and Strategic Initiatives for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. PSCDC participated as an exhibit sponsor this year and prepared a booth for visitors to learn more about the services we provide to our residents and development partners. Booth visitors were treated to tumblers, pens, brochures, and a chance to participate in our raffle in which we gave away three gift cards that totaled $120!
James Quish from Cal Solar, Inc. Samantha Speer from Physical Property Analysis, and Miriam Tellez from Bridge Housing were our raffle winners this year! Congratulations!
PSCDC also won an award during the conference. Throughout the conference, conference goers were encouraged to share pictures of the conference and vote on the best picture by liking their favorite pictures. The owner of the picture with the most likes would be awarded a free entry to next year's conference. This year, PSCDC's own Director of Services in Imperial Valley, Luz Vallejo, had the most liked picture! Luz's award-winning photo was a picture of our PSCDC staff.
With the 29th annual Affordable Housing & Community Development Institutes and Conference now behind us, PSCDC looks to build upon our successes at this year's conference and apply the knowledge and skills learned from the conference. We also look to establish deeper partnerships and connections with the many different companies and organizations we have met during the conference. As always, we are looking forward to next year's conference! Thank you to San Diego Housing Federation for hosting an amazing conference this year!
