Welcome to August Advocacy!

Though August recess has hit some unexpected snags this year, as Senators delay their trips home to work on Obamacare repeal, our work and our messages are too important to delay. This page is meant to provide you with all you need to participate in our August Advocacy campaign. If you want more information or have questions about how to be an effective advocate, we’re happy to help. Just contact John Bohm or Tess Hembree.

August Advocacy Timeline

Here are the issues we’ll be concentrating on for this campaign:

• Week 1 (July 22-29): We’ll be joining the Our Homes, Our Voices Housing Week of Action, which includes a July 26th rally on Capitol Hill and a Twitterstorm, as well as a July 27 call-in day.  
• Week 2 (July 31- August 4): Public Housing Capital Fund: Resident Health: This week, we’ll focus on messages and stories about the impact of public housing on public health, and the good work that NAHRO members do to keep their communities both housed and healthy.
• Week 3 (August 7-11): Low Income Housing Tax Credit: This week will be devoted to the importance of the LIHTC and the need to both preserve and expand this successful state-based program, which leverages private investment in order to build affordable housing.
• Week 4 (August 14-18): Small Housing Agency Regulatory Reform: Regardless of whether you’re a large or small agency, speak out to support responsible regulatory relief for overburdened small agencies.
• Week 5 (August 21-25): Housing as Critical Infrastructure: Keep up the drum beat to ensure that housing is included in any infrastructure package considered by Congress.
• Week 6 (August 28- September 1): FY 2018 Appropriations: When Congress returns to Washington in September they will have to make critical decisions about appropriations and possibly the debt ceiling. Let your legislators know the importance of full and prompt funding for housing and community development programs in the upcoming fiscal year.

How to Participate

As a constituent, you are your own most effective advocate – tell the story of the good work that you do in your community, and how your work would be affected by the proposed budget

• Talk with your congressional representatives in person: nothing compares to face-to-face visit with your elected official, or an invitation to a ribbon-cutting or a property tour.
• Call your elected official’s office. If you don’t know his or her phone number, you can call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202 244 3121, and they’ll connect you.
• Email your representatives via our NAHRO Advocacy Center – each week, we’ll have a new letter ready for you to customize or just send! Last year, we reached our goal of more than 2,000 letters sent to elected officials via the NAHRO Advocacy Center. This year, we’re aiming to send 2,500 letters!
• Tweet at them (we’ll have sample tweets for you, and feel free to retweet anything relevant you see on our @nahronational account); use the #AugustAdvocacy hashtag!
• Comment on their Facebook pages

How to Keep in Touch with NAHRO’s August Advocacy Efforts

• Read the Action Alert emails that we send
• Check the NAHRO website for news and Action Alerts
• Follow @nahronational on Twitter and Facebook, and watch out for the #AugustAdvocacy hashtag!