July 15, 2026
Dear NOAAH Board Members, Colleagues and Supporters:
I am pleased to share that the 2026 NOAAH National Housing Conference will be held September 24–26 in Richmond, Virginia, at Virginia Union University.
This year’s theme is “The American Dream at 250.” As the country celebrates its 250th anniversary, we have an opportunity to seriously examine what the American Dream now means in the context of housing, homeownership, community stability, and economic mobility.
That conversation could not come at a more important time. Across the country, communities face deep pressure regarding affordability, fair housing, access to capital, aging housing stock, public housing transformation, and the long-term future of homeownership. At the same time, new policy conversations are taking shape in Washington, including the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which has passed both chambers of Congress and could influence the national housing agenda in the months ahead.
NOAAH’s conference will meet this moment. It will bring forward the experience, judgment, and ideas of people who understand housing not only as policy but also as a lived reality in neighborhoods, institutions, and markets across the country.
Please send us your recommendations for topics, speakers, panels, or issues you believe should be part of the Richmond conference. We are especially interested in ideas that speak to the future of equitable housing, affordable housing development, homeownership, fair housing, community reinvestment, public-private partnership, housing finance, and the next generation of leadership in our field.
Your suggestions do not need to be fully developed. If there is a question we should ask, a speaker we should hear from, a policy issue that deserves more attention, or a conversation NOAAH is uniquely positioned to lead, please send it to me. kevinmarchman.noaah@gmail.com
We are also coordinating our timing with other national organizations, including the NAACP, whose national convention will be held in Chicago later this month. Our goal is for NOAAH’s conference to add to the larger national conversation and give our members a clear forum for the issues most important to our work.
Please send your ideas by Friday, July 24, so we can begin shaping the agenda for Richmond.
