A primary objective of Joining Forces’ YIMBY (Yes, in My Backyard) Committee is to educate communities about the benefits of affordable housing and debunk misinformation that can serve as barriers to new affordability. Meeting this objective is important, because community opinions can make or break new affordable housing efforts. Joining Forces has been listening to and analyzing typical objections to affordable housing for years. Now, the YIMBY Committee is analyzing the most common concerns and finding that most objections fall into predictable categories. This is useful to us as advocates, because it can help us to acknowledge and respond to neighbors’ different concerns in different and constructive ways.
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Isaiah Humphreys lobbied in Springfield with Joining Forces last year and plans to lobby with us again for Lobby Day 2024. He has noticed the nation’s state of homelessness and feels that he should do what he can to address it. This year, Joining Forces is asking to substantially increase the state budget for 2025 to support various homelessness services across Illinois, which is a great opportunity for Isaiah to make an impact. The mission of Connections for the Homeless is to serve and catalyze the community to end homelessness, one person at a time. The key to our success is housing, as is well documented in the 2022 book Homelessness Is a Housing Problem. As the book shows, we have no hope of solving the issue of homelessness if there isn’t enough housing. Hugh Brady is the Executive Director of the Housing Task Force, and a major part of his advocacy work is rooted in NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He is on the board for the NAMI Northwest Suburbs of Chicago chapter and chair of the legislative committee of NAMI Illinois. Hugh describes his and the Task Force’s work as being the catalyst to make affordable housing happen. Therefore, they do not own or operate buildings, but connect developers with community members and stakeholders to create permanent supportive housing in various communities. Isaac Rubenstein is an AmeriCorps VISTA, working as the Community Education Coordinator with Joining Forces and Connections for the Homeless. Projects he’s working on involve establishing new Joining Forces chapters, helping North Suburban Cook County municipalities with their advocacy efforts, strengthening Joining Forces’ community partners, and many others. Following the passage of our AHPAA reform bill (PA 103-0487) during the 2023 General Assembly session, the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) released the updated Statewide Affordability List. IHDA updates and publishes this information every 5 years as part of its administration of the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeals Act (AHPAA). This law requires any municipality with a population of 1,000 or more to have at least 10% of its housing be affordable (1) or to have a plan in place to achieve that goal. Michael Mallory is the Chief Government Relations Officer at Connections for the Homeless and started his role here in spring of 2023. His role involves managing our public funding, overseeing the compliance of our government contracts, cultivating external relationships with government officials, and advocacy. Lily Buchen is another Connections for the Homeless employee that lobbied in Springfield with Joining Forces in April. Lily is the Communications Coordinator for Connections’ Development Team, and she believes that communications in advocacy work is important. Advocating means to have a voice, and effective communication through that voice is a way to get people to care enough about a cause to take action. Communication can be educational and emotionally compelling, which can sway public opinion about issues and even influence legislation. The topic of affordable housing can be overwhelming, and its complexity can be a barrier for people who are considering becoming advocates. However, advocates do NOT need to know all the details—the many varieties of programs to create affordability, how new housing is financed, the ins and outs of zoning, etc. This type of knowledge can be helpful and can come with time and work. But it’s not necessary before one can become an effective advocate.
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