In another nod to the common sense benefits of regional collaboration, the National Housing Conference (NHC), a nonprofit advocate for national policies and legislation that promote suitable housing in a safe, decent environment, recently named MPC’s Interjurisdictional Collaboration initiative a finalist in its 2009 Pioneering Housing Strategies award. The award recognized “forward-thinking strategies that are changing the way we approach affordable housing and community development initiatives.” NHC also featured a summary of our housing-related interjurisdictional efforts on its blog, Open House.
Through our Interjurisdictional Collaboration efforts, MPC is helping communities recognize and unleash the benefits of working together across governmental borders to tackle shared challenges. NHC lauded this approach for creating “systemic efficiencies in promoting equitable and sustainable housing opportunities in the Chicago metropolitan region.”
Indeed, even if all of the region’s municipalities had the staff capacity, political will and expertise to manage the programs and policies necessary to address local development needs, many issues, including housing, do not adhere to municipal borders. By working together, communities can be more efficient and effective.
That’s why MPC is working with a variety of community collaborations around the region to help them address these issues. Learn more.
Also, read up on Builders of Hope, Inc., which won this year’s Pioneering Housing Strategies award for its Extreme Green Rehabilitation process and related Work Mentor program, which were created to help close an expanding gap between the availability and the need for affordable, urban housing solutions in the Raleigh, NC area.