PH+ recently hosted its first citywide affordable housing summit, “People’s Housing + Summit: Building Generational Wealth” at the Ashè Powerhouse Theater. It was a wildly successful inaugural summit with a large crowd, informative speakers, available resources, and an opportunity to meet as a community to talk about affordable housing.

More than 150 people attended the event, which featured a number affordable housing experts including PH+ CEO Oji Alexander; New Orleans City Council members Eugene Green and Lesli Harris;  Ron Henderson, Deputy Commissioner with the Office of Consumer Advocacy & Diversity for the Louisiana Department of Insurance; community development banking specialists Kelvin Luster and  Prax Melancon; Center for Employment Opportunities Shantrice Bailey; local wills and succession attorney Jay Daniels; PH+ Director of Stewardship and Community Engagement Erania Ellis; and PH+ Director of Client Engagement and Education Deneka Desroches. Veteran journalist Norman Robinson served as the panel moderator. 

Ellis and Desroches organized the summit, which was sponsored by Home Bank through the heirship program in partnership with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas. The organizers wanted to give attendees up-to-date  info on affordable housing in New Orleans, and they delivered on that holding panels that covered the city’s current housing crisis and working solutions, the latest on available FORTIFIED roof grants, wills and succession planning, the homebuying process and financial literacy. Plus, attendees were able to ask direct questions of the panelists.  

Here are a few photos from the summit, which PH+ plans on making an annual event.