It’s with mixed emotions that NHC bids farewell to our policy director, Luke Villalobos. While we are sad to see him leave us, we are excited for the new opportunity he will have to further affordable housing policies at the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA). Among his accomplishments, Luke led our effort to bring together dozens of our members to draft a highly respected comment letter on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Community Reinvestment Act. He also organized our most successful policy conference in many years, Solutions for Affordable Housing. We are going to miss him but look forward to his experience and initiative making a difference at one of the most important federal housing offices.
This means that NHC is hiring a new policy director, which will be an incredible opportunity for a seasoned housing policy professional to join the oldest and broadest housing coalition in America and take our work to the next level. NHC’s Policy Director is a visible and influential position, responsible for representing NHC, coordinating our National Advisory Council and policy committees, supervising our contribution to the Black Homeownership Collaborative, managing the influential Paycheck to Paycheck online housing affordability tool, and many other opportunities. Past policy directors include Lee Johnson, who wrote much of the 1949 Housing and Community Development Act, Conrad Egan, who later became president and CEO, and Ethan Handelman, who currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for multifamily housing programs.
NHC begins its tenth decade with a renewed and reinvigorated leadership position in the affordable housing policy environment. Our role is to help our stakeholders develop broadly supported policies that represent the highest common denominator among diverse interests. This has been demonstrated by our success enacting the $10 billion Homeowner Assistance Fund, our work with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on finding a path forward on a unified modernization plan for CRA, the creation and launch of the Black Homeownership Collaborative (BHC) which celebrated its first anniversary in Atlanta on June 20, 2022, and ongoing efforts to build bipartisan support for housing production policies.
The National Housing Conference is a diverse continuum of affordable housing stakeholders. Founded in 1931, NHC is the oldest and broadest housing coalition in America. We are the place housers come to get things done. We were primary authors and advocates for the 1937, 1949, and 1968 National Housing Acts and successfully advocated for the creation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1965. NHC’s mission is to convene and collaborate through dialogue, advocacy, research, and education, to develop equitable solutions that serve our common interest. Politically diverse and nonpartisan, NHC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Equal Opportunity Employer.
If you are interested or know someone who is interested, a formal job description can be found at https://nhc.org/about/careers/.