Events

Call for Session Proposals

2026 NAHRO National Conference & Exhibition
October 15-17 — Colorado Convention Center – Denver, CO

Share your experience as a housing and community development professional by submitting a session proposal for the 2026 NAHRO National Conference!

Click the button below to submit a session proposal. All proposals must be submitted thru the online portal, no exceptions. Submitters will need to create a log-in for the portal — this is different from your NAHRO log-in. The Call for Proposals submission period will end May 8.

Submission Guidelines: 

  • All sessions will occur live and in-person. Virtual presentations and/or virtual speakers will not be considered. 
  • Sessions are 75 minutes long, inclusive of audience Q&A.   
  • Sessions should be geared toward housing authority executive directors, staff, commissioners, and other affordable housing and community development professionals.
  • Sessions will take place on October 15 and 16 (Thursday-Friday); as such, please ensure speaker availability over both days in advance of proposal submission as we do not accept specific day/time requests. Speakers will be provided their confirmed session day/time with session acceptance status.
  • Sessions should be void of all commercial bias.  Since there are many opportunities for vendors to interact with attendees, we are committed to keeping our sessions free of commercial offerings. Vendor members are encouraged to submit non-commercial session proposals, and to invite their agency customers to be on their panels.
  • NAHRO seeks to meet the goals of its Diversity Statement by encouraging diverse panelists. We ask session coordinators to be mindful of this objective when coordinating panels.
  • Session information in conference materials will appear exactly as provided in the proposal submission. Please check the spelling of all relevant titles, academic degrees, and professional designations and provide correct contact information for all session participants.
  • Individuals can submit up to 2 proposals.  Speakers can participate in up to 2 sessions.   

Submission requirements:
Submissions should be complete with the following. Incomplete proposals will not be considered.

  • Session title (less than 10 words)
  • Session description (less than 100 words)
  • (3) action-oriented learning objectives/takeaways (less than 50 words each)
  • Identified panelists – all panelists identified in proposal submission must be aware and confirmed for participation.  Panels are limited to no more than 4 speakers. 

Topic Categories:
Submissions should fall under one of the following 5 broad topic categories:

1. Governance, Leadership, and Workforce: How housing agencies are led, staffed, and governed.
Related topic ideas:

  • Commissioner-focused: roles and responsibilities; governance training; hiring of EDs, policy 101
  • Executive Director-focused: 101 for new EDs, Board relations
  • Human Resources: attracting quality talent, career opportunities in housing, recruiting youth into housing
  • Leadership: skills and motivation, women in leadership, crisis/change management
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

2. Housing Programs, Operations, and Compliance: The core day-to-day work of PHAs
Related topic ideas:

  • Public Housing
  • Housing Choice Voucher: two-year tool, PBV vs HCV, NSPIRE and NSPIRE-V, homeownership
  • PBRA Operations
  • Fair Housing
  • Moving To Work
  • Legislative/Regulatory: HUD changes and what’s coming, HOTMA, LIHTC, OIG/DEC issues
  • PHA technology: AI, Cybersecurity
  • Marketing & Communications: strategy, media relations, combatting stigma, working with local gov, linking with advocacy
  • Legal Issues related to H/CD: ask a lawyer
  • Procurement
  • Maintenance
  • Front-line operations
  • Small agency issues
  • Emergency Preparedness
  • Insurance
  • Climate Resiliency

3. Development, Finance, and Asset Strategy: Building, preserving, and repositioning housing assets.
Related topic ideas:

  • Finance/Mixed Finance: Fund development outside of federal funding
  • Repositioning: PBRA, RAD for small agencies, RAD/Section 18 blends, PHA versus RAD versus streamline conversion
  • Community Development & Redevelopment: Opportunity Zones

4. Residents, Communities, and Partnerships: Community impact, partnerships, and youth engagement.
Related topic ideas:

  • Homelessness – Strategies being taken to prevent/reduce homelessness, Continuum of Care, youth homelessness
  • Resident Services – FSS, ROSS, TIC, HAP
  • Community Partnerships
  • Healthcare and Housing
  • Youth Engagement and Leadership

5. The Future of Housing: Exploring “what’s next” for the industry.
Related topic ideas:

  • Innovation in Housing
  • AI

Selection Process:
The Call for Proposals submission period will end May 8.  All proposals will then be reviewed and evaluated by a select team of industry professionals based on the following selection criteria:

  • Thoroughness of the subject matter
  • Originality and relevance
  • Quality of learning objectives and takeaway tools offered to attendees.
  • Quality of proposal in terms of organization, grammar, spelling, etc.

Proposal status will be provided by late-June.  All selected participants are expected to adhere to all indicated policies, procedures, and deadlines.

NAHRO requires that all speakers register for the conference at the discounted speaker rate ($595).  Additionally, NAHRO does not provide speaker stipends and speakers are responsible for their own travel, lodging, and any other related expenses. 

Questions? 
Contact Jill Randles, NAHRO Director of Conferences jrandles@nahro.org