Coalition News V o l u m e I X , I s s u e I

Our Vision for the Upcoming Year in a Word is CONNECT!

A message from incoming board chair – John Roberts, Esq.

I am honored to begin serving as the Tennessee Affordable Housing Coalition board chair effective this

month. I would like to begin by expressing the coalition’s appreciation for the leadership that our past

chair, Eric Haralson, has provided in this position over the last two years. Although Eric has stepped

down as chair, he will remain active on the Executive Committee in the past-chair role. He has also

agreed to lead our Legislative Operating Committee and he is managing our upcoming Day-On-The-Hill

event. For those who do not know, Eric has recently retired from his executive position at the Federa-

tion of Appalachian Housing Enterprises (FAHE) but plans to remain active in the affordable housing

community as a consultant. We are grateful to Eric for his past contributions and we look forward to working with him in his new role

for years to come.

Looking forward to the upcoming year, our vision for the coalition in a word is CONNECT. We all should be proud of the progress the

coalition has made in recent years and the growth that we have experienced. However, with rapidly escalating housing costs and

widening affordability gaps in many markets, the challenges faced by coalition members serving the needs for affordable housing in

Tennessee are more challenging than ever. On our own, any one of our coalition members may feel overwhelmed, but together we

have support and strength. That is where the CONNECT vision begins.

The upcoming year brings opportunities to increase dramatically the connection of our coalition including:

CONNECT more members active and engaged within the coalition and the regional councils.

CONNECT coalition members through a powerful website to share information and communication.

CONNECT with lawmakers and establish the coalition as a powerful advocate and source of expertise.

In the next year, we will focus our resources and efforts in each of these areas. For example, membership growth is a key objective in

everything we do. We recognize the power of the coalition increases geometrically as we add more members and get them engaged

with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, skill sets and objectives. We have invested to build a coalition website to serve as a central

information repository and point of connection. With the initial website design now in place, we are already working to implement a

dramatic redesign to improve usability and effectiveness. For connection to lawmakers, we are conducting this year’s Day-On-The-Hill

in collaboration with other groups including TN Mortgage Bankers Association (TMBA), the Tennessee Association of Housing and

Redevelopment Agencies (TAHRA), Tennessee Developers Council and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

Through connection, the coalition will help all members be more successful. When we CONNECT, we have strength and influence.

Assisting each other, we can all be more effective in making a difference. None of us can solve all of the problems or meet all of the

needs. However, each of us can do something – and when we CONNECT the impact on improving affordable housing in Tennessee

can be dramatic.

Let’s CONNECT and make 2017 a great year!

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T R A I N I N G S & C O N F E R E N C E S

C o a l i t i o n N e w s

Rural Community Assistance Corp (RCAC) Training:

For more information, please contact Judy Hunter at (916) 447-9832 x1015 or

email at: jhunter@rcac.org.

January 24, 2017 - Cultural Sensitivity: Building Cultural Bridges to Housing Counseling: Examine the ingredients necessary to build bridges to reach diverse families and communi-ties for the purpose of offering culturally compatible housing counseling services. Discuss definitions of culture, values, and belief systems and explore major diversity variables.

January 25, 2017 - Expanding Services to Rural and/or Underserved Communities: Gain the tools to help you expand your counseling agency’s program offerings to underserved and/or rural communities. Learn to identify the resources available to help you develop your programs and services in a way that better serve the area.

Fair Lending and Loan Document Review: Learn the new Loan Estimate and Closing Dis-closure, and the new rules surrounding timing of disclosures, permitted tolerance levels, and TRID’s interaction to other regulatory requirements such as the Ability-to-Repay and Quali-fied Mortgage rule. For questions on registration, contact Mark Wiseman or Christie Marks at 916/447-9832 ext. 1429 or by e-mail: registration@rcac.org . For questions on content, please contact Judy Hunter at (916) 447-9832 x 1015. Webinar date: January 19, 2017

GOVERNOR’S HOUSING CONFERENCE -

COALITION INSTALLATION BREAKFAST

Tennessee Affordable Housing Coalition’s Board members pictured at the Governor’s Housing Conference Installation

Breakfast, in Nashville on October 12th. From left to right are; John Roberts, Keith Turbett, Carla Jarrell, John Callow,

Sharon Bosworth, Maria Catron, Retha Patton, Colleen Dudley, Sernorma Mitchell, Eddie Latimer, Brian Harris, Don Alex-

ander and Anne Cooper. And Eric Haralson, then Chairperson, at the podium. For a full list of the Coalition Board mem-

bers, see page 5 of this newsletter.

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C o a l i t i o n N e w s

L E G I S L A T I V E H O U S I N G N E W S

R E G I O N A L C O U N C I L M E E T I N G S

Middle TN Regional Council Meeting

Save the Date - February 15, 2017

Details to follow

East TN Regional Council Meeting

Save the Date - February 28 - Knoxville

Details to follow

West TNAHC Regional Meeting

Next meeting is with Healthy Homes Partnership

January 25, 2017 - 10:00 am to 1:00 pm

Held at the Urban Child Institute,

600 Jefferson Ave., Memphis.

Includes a joint lunch

Tennessee’s Legislative Day on the Hill

February 21 and 22, 2017

Double Tree Hotel, 315 4th Avenue North,

Nashville, TN 37219

Tennessee Affordable Housing Coalition Events at Day on the Hill

Tuesday, February 21 at Legislative Plaza - Noon to 3:00 pm

Coalition has a booth with information and will provide light refreshments

in the main corridor of Legislative Plaza

Wednesday, February 22 at Double Tree Hotel, Nashville

Coalition Board members only

Breakfast at 8:30 am - Board meeting - 9:00 am to 10:00 am CST

For All Coalition Members

Legislative training for Coalition members and other Day on the Hill partners

to discuss Legislative visits - 10:00 am to 11:00 am

Lunch with your Legislators - 11:30 am to 1:00 pm

Visits with your Legislators (please schedule) - 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

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L O C A L N E W S A R T I C L E S

C o a l i t i o n N e w s

Ben Carson, Shaped by Poverty, Is Likely to Bring Tough Love to HUD

By Yamiche Alcindor, 1/11/17

The New York Times

Between the several jobs she worked and the scramble to feed her sons, often with food stamps, Sonya Carson used

to recite a poem to keep her son Ben and his brother focused on lifting themselves out of their impoverished neigh-

borhood in Detroit.

“If things go bad for you and make you a bit ashamed, often you will find out that you have yourself to blame,”

Mayme White Miller’s poem begins. “You’re the captain of your ship, so agree with the same, if you travel down-

ward you have yourself to blame.”

Those words, drummed into Ben Carson’s memory, appear to have framed the retired neurosurgeon’s views on

urban renewal, mandated racial integration and the proper role of government in addressing the nation’s social

woes. Now Mr. Carson, tapped by President-elect Donald J. Trump to become the next secretary of housing and

urban development, will most likely have the power and opportunity to apply his mother’s conservative message to

people’s lives as he heads an agency with $47 billion budget and a charge to assist millions of low-income renters,

fight urban blight and help struggling homeowners stave off foreclosures.

Mr. Carson has no experience running a large federal bureaucracy, and aside from a failed run for the presidency,

has no background in government. But if confirmed by the Senate, he would enter public service with a back-

ground like few other cabinet officials in history, shaped profoundly by a childhood when public assistance meant

survival and public housing was all around him.

Rather than embrace the programs that once sustained his family and the families around him, he has resolutely

rejected them, adopting standard Republican beliefs that welfare fosters dependency.

“The government should build and maintain infrastructure that supports population growth, business and self-

improvement endeavors,” he wrote in his book, “A More Perfect Union.” “It should not, however, meddle in the

affairs of all the citizens or control every aspect of their lives, as is done in many communist and socialist coun-

tries.”

Mr. Carson’s conservative views on government policy—coupled with the credibility his own remarkable story

brings—worry experts who believe government should be doing more, not less, for the nation’s cities, where glit-

tering downtowns and increasingly affluent neighborhoods are often surrounded by areas of poverty and violence,

with predominantly minority residents.

“The concern about government interference in the administration of housing programs in our cities, to me, seems

unfounded,” said Stefanie A. DeLuca, a professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University who specializes in

housing policy. “This danger of social engineering our cities and suburbs is overblown in comparison with the

gains that we could be making in fair housing.”

For the complete story, click on the link below.

www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/politics/ben-carson-hud-cabinet.html?_r=0

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TNAHC Board Meeting

Next Board meeting will be held in

conjunction with Tennessee’s Day on Hill Event

See page 3

TNAHC Executive Committee

Chairperson John Roberts, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville

Vice Chairperson

Keith Turbett, First Tennessee Bank

Secretary

Carla Jarrell, Pinnacle Financial Par tners

Treasurer Sharon Bosworth, Affordable Housing Resources

Immediate Past Chair Eric Haralson, Triage Associates

C o a l i t i o n N e w s

2 0 1 7 T N A H C L E A D E R S H I P

West TN Regional Council

Chair - Mary Hickman, USDA-RD

Vice Chair - Paul Morris

Secretary - Andrea Echols

East TN Regional Council

Chair - Lindy Turner

Clinch-Powell RC&D

Vice Chair - Sherry Trent

Secretary and Media Correspondence - Chris Osborne

Middle TN Regional Council

Chair - Jan Hale, Mortgage Solutions Financial

Vice Chair - Angela Belcher

Secretary - Colleen Dudley

Subcommittee Chairs

Communication and PR-Advocacy Committee - Retta Gardner

Education Committee - Retha Patton

Finance Committee - Sharon Bosworth

Legislative Committee - Eric Haralson

Membership Committee - Don Alexander

Coalition Board Members

Member Term Affiliation

Eddie Latimer 2018 HCET Rep.

Don Alexander 2017 PHA

Mike Hedges 2017 For-profit

Retha Patton 2017 Non Profit

Mary Hickman 2017 Regional Chair

Sharon Bosworth 2017 Officer

Maria Catron 2019 PHA

Lindy Turner 2017 Regional Chair

Steve Barlow 2017 At-Large

Lorrie Shearon Ex-Officio Fed/Fund Agency

Ralph Perrey Ex-Officio Fed/Fund Agency

Eric Haralson 2018 Officer

Carla Jarrell 2019 Officer

Colleen Dudley 2019 Non-profit

Jackie Mayo 2019 Non-profit

Jan Hale 2017 Regional Chair

Keith Lampkin 2019 Local government

John Callow 2019 Local government

John Roberts 2017 Officer

Ruth Phillips 2018 Mortgage Banker

Keith Turbett 2019 Officer

Retta Gardner 2018 Mortgage Banker

Anne Cooper 2018 Low Income Rep.

Brian Harris 2018 PHA

Sernorma Mitchell Ex-Officio Fed/Fund Agency