Toronto, Ontario, Canada

With the global economic meltdown as a backdrop, leaders from 60 of the foremost nonprofit housing organizations from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States (and an Australian guest organization) met in Toronto on May 13th for a day-long exchange. Organized by the Housing Partnership Network and attended by 27 Network members from across the United States, this was the fourth in a series of international exchanges since 2003 among the chief executives of leading housing nonprofits. Discussions focused on the impact, challenges, and solutions relating to the financial crisis at the community and organizational level, strategies to promote sustainable and energy efficient development and operations, and on innovative efforts underway in each country to advance business excellence and performance benchmarking.

Key themes that recurred throughout the conference were the importance of repositioning social housing as critical infrastructure, the significant opportunities and demands to spearhead community revitalization through housing initiatives, and the need to realign housing policies to incentivize more efficient capitalization and performance. Participants affirmed their commitment to continue and deepen the exchange through international work groups focusing on sustainability, business performance, housing and care, and resident services.

List of Conference Participants

Read more …