This webinar focused on the importance of nonpartisan voter engagement for subsidized housing providers and discussed creative strategies that subsidized housing providers can employ, in partnership with advocates and residents, to boost voter turnout in their communities. The saved chat can be found here and the transcript can be found here. The webinar recording and slideshow can be found below. 

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Bernadine Martin, director of resident services at Eden Housing, discussed how nonpartisan civic engagement fits in with Eden Housing's mission alongside other forms of resident advocacy. She spoke to the effectiveness of voter registration initiatives in collaboration with other nonprofit organizations, which have boosted registration and turnout rates among residents in past election cycles. Cydni Polk Blocker, senior director of community life for Chicago and the Mid-Atlantic region at The Community Builders, described an array of site-based strategies to register, educate, and mobilize voters. She emphasized the importance of resident leadership, noting that resident services staff intend to "work themselves out of a job" by empowering residents to take the lead in community initiatives, and she highlighted the relationship between voting and equity. Katie West, director of strategic initiatives, and Harrison Tuttle, manager of advocacy and civic engagement, at the Housing Network of Rhode Island described their organization's partnership with their housing provider members to carry out strategic voter outreach campaigns. Katie and Harrison discussed the nuts-and-bolts of planning canvassing sessions, best practices for establishing partnerships with housing providers, and other ideas for engaging voters beyond door-to-door canvassing. Courtney Cooperman, project manager of Our Homes, Our Votes, concluded with reminders about the permissibility of nonpartisan voter engagement activities for Public Housing Agencies and HUD-subsidized providers, and shared ways to get involved with Our Homes, Our Votes beyond the webinar series. ​

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The following resources were shared on the call:

• Archive of past webinars: https://www.ourhomes-ourvotes.org/webinars-2024

• HUD announcements about nonpartisan voter engagement: https://www.ourhomes-ourvotes.org/hud-usich-info

•  “Do’s and Don’t’s” factsheet for PHAs and HUD-subsidized providers: https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/The-Dos-and-Donts-of-Voter-Engagement-in-HUD-Assisted-Properties.pdf

• Learn more about the Housing Providers Council: https://www.ourhomes-ourvotes.org/housing-providers-council

• Subscribe to NLIHC email list: https://nlihc.org/sign-receive-nlihc-emails

• Become an affiliate: https://www.ourhomes-ourvotes.org/affiliates

• TurboVote: https://ourhomes.turbovote.org/?r=webinars

• Our Homes, Our Votes resource library: https://www.ourhomes-ourvotes.org/resources

• Become a National Voter Registration Day partner: https://nationalvoterregistrationday.org/2024-partner-sign-up/?partner=nlihc24&source24=pp 

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The next Our Homes, Our Votes webinar, “Getting Candidates on the Record about Housing and Homelessness,” will take place on Monday, August 19, at 2:30pm ET. Register for the webinar series here.

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