NAHRO Advocacy Awards
The NAHRO advocacy awards were created by NAHRO’s Board of Governors to both recognize outstanding and innovative effort and achievement in the area of legislative advocacy and to publicize and promote further legislative advocacy among NAHRO members and organizations.
NAHRO's Mary K. Nenno Advocacy Award recognizes outstanding and innovative achievement in the area of legislative advocacy. Awardees are recognized during NAHRO's annual Spring Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.
About the Award
Born in 1924, Mary Kathryn Nenno worked at NAHRO from 1960 to 1991, serving first as Assistant Director for Housing, then as Director of Program Policy and Research, then as Associate Director for Policy Development. She was one of the first to initiate NAHRO’s role as monitor and reporter on federal legislation of critical importance to housing and community development practitioners. In 1987, she and Philip M. Klutznick were jointly awarded NAHRO’s highest honor, the M. Justin Herman award. Ms. Nenno was also a Trustee Emirita of the Cooperative Housing Foundation.
A lifetime NAHRO member, Ms. Nenno was an extensive traveler, speaker and prolific writer. Her works include both articles for industry publications such as the "Journal of Housing and Community Development" and "Development Law and Outlook," as well as full-length books such as Housing in Local Government and The Story of Housing and Ending the Stalemate: Moving Housing and Urban Development into the Mainstream of America's Future.
The Nenno award is presented in two categories: Organizational, for a NAHRO Region, Chapter or State Association, and Individual, for a NAHRO member or group of members. Awards go to efforts that exemplify the highest legal and ethical standards.
2012 Mary K. Nenno Award Winner
Dianne Hovedstad
This year’s 2012 Mary K. Nenno Advocacy Award was granted to Dianne Hovdestad, Deputy Director at the Sioux Falls Housing and Redevelopment Commission. Dianne has been a committed NAHRO leader for several years, serving on the National NAHRO Board of Governors and as member of the Legislative Network. She’s helped shape housing policies after tirelessly advocating for affordable housing programs during her career, working with a plethora of South Dakota Representatives and senators.
Dianne has actively worked close with the Senate Banking Committee Staff to amend a bill that would have allowed PHAs to meet their financial needs. The amendment, which was unfortunately defeated, would have let PHAs use a portion of their net restricted assets to support administrative fees. She has since continued to raise awareness about the challenges faced by public housing and Section 8 programs. Dianne has also spearheaded the legislative involvement among South Dakota NAHRO members, mobilizing them to regularly contact their congressional delegation with concerns.
Her work includes preparing briefing books for the South Dakota Congressional delegation for the last ten years, which candidly showed representatives just how their proposed legislations might affect low-income families and communities. Her briefing books provided demographic information about families living on rental assistance, and her thorough research provided details on their income and the cost of their rent.
“Dianne has provided exemplary, on-going efforts advocating for issues surrounding housing programs that provide safe, affordable and healthy living environments for our low-income citizens”, said Shireen Ranschau, Executive Director of the Sioux Falls Housing and Redevelopment Commission. “In my opinion, Dianne has shown exceptional determination in improving the provisions of housing programs at the local, state and national levels.”
2011 Winners: James Coleman & the California Association of Housing Authorities
Representative Olver Named NAHRO's Legislator of the Year
Representative John Olver (D-MA) was named NAHRO’s Legislator of the Year at this year’s Legislative Conference. The award honors federal legislators for their efforts in support of responsible policies impacting the provision of safe and affordable housing in quality communities.
Olver represents the 1st Congressional district in Massachusetts,where he currently serves as the Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and related agencies. Since 2007, Olver has overseen the nation’s transportation and housing budget while 
defending and improving housing programs that frequently stand on the chopping block of receiving budget allocation. Additionally, he provided funding for homeless veterans where there was none in more than ten years with the VASHprogram. The vouchers have particularly worked in tandem with other housing programs to help residents of central Massachusetts.
In his role overseeing HUD’s budget, Olver was able reopen programs that help unemployed homeowners and those that received pay cuts to obtain emergency loans in order to prevent impending foreclosures. He also routinely voted against a version of the FY 2012 budget that would sacrifice jobs and decrease funding for housing initiatives like HOPE VI and the Community Development Block Grants.
"The [sic] budget is a balanced approach that will sustain our economic recovery, preserves programs for those [sic] who have been hardest by the downturn, and asks the wealthy to pay their share to bring down the deficit," Olver said.
Watch Representative Olver’s acceptance speech:
