2025 Housing California Annual Conference Proposal Guidelines
This year’s theme will be “Solidarity in Action: Building Power to Transform Communities.” We are excited to feature innovative, interactive sessions that elevate lessons learned, solutions, and strategies to create the system level change and structural reforms essential to create more affordable homes, end homelessness, protect low income renters, and close equity gaps so we can realize a California with homes, health, and prosperity for all in thriving, sustainable communities.
Please follow the guidelines below as you develop your proposal.
Questions? Contact lnavas@housingca.org
General Submission Guidelines
- Deadline: Submit your proposal by Monday, September 9, 2024 at 11:59 PM (PST).
- Identifying panelists at the time of proposal submission is strongly encouraged. If you do not have a specific person confirmed, writing “someone from X organization” and indicating they are “proposed” or “invited” is acceptable.
- PLEASE NOTE: Due to the high volume of submissions and limited session space, Housing California reserves the right to ask conveners to combine proposals with other related submissions, request modifications to the session proposal content and/or speaker panel, and work with you to modify the title, track, and description.
Session Format Guidelines
| Type | Length | Speakers | Format |
| Learning Lab (March 5) |
4 hours | 5 people maximum. This may be 1 moderator and up to 4 co-presenters or a combination of 5 people of your choosing. | Learning labs provide an opportunity to dive deeper into a topic or concept and ideally have interactive components or longer discussion opportunities embedded throughout the session. Learning Labs occur pre-conference and require a separate registration fee for attendees. Learning Lab rooms can be set in rounds or theater seating. A facilitation plan with desired learning outcomes should be planned out in advance. |
| Workshop (March 6-7) |
1 Hour and 15 Minutes | 5 people maximum. This may be 1 moderator and up to 4 co-presenters or a combination of 5 people of your choosing. | Workshops are held in a theater-style setting with up to 5 presenters. Workshops should have an interactive component and/or allow for an attendee question and answer period(s). |
| Roundtable Discussion (March 6-7) |
1 Hour and 15 Minutes | 1-2 facilitators. NO SPEAKER PANELS | Roundtable Discussions are facilitated conversations in a smaller session room. The room is set in rounds with up to 60 people. The goal of this format type is to collectively share and discuss, problem solve, or dive deeper into a specific topic, idea, challenge, or innovation. A facilitation plan with proposed conversational outcomes and questions should be planned out in advance. |
Session Selection Criteria
Housing California will prioritize proposals that incorporate the following criteria:
- Meaningfully address justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism within BOTH the topic presented and the speakers included.
- Elevate what we’ve learned and highlight bold impactful strategies to build on our successes and grow from our losses.
- Focus on solutions or topics that advance the systems change and structural reforms needed to create a California with homes, health, and prosperity for all in thriving, sustainable communities.
- Highlight and center the lived experience of people struggling with housing instability and homelessness.
- Take an “all in” or “big tent” approach by building, activating, and strengthening cross-sector collaboration and solidarity.
- Are future-facing and push the field by spurring healthy conversation, debate, or discussion.
- NEW! SUB-TRACK: Un-Learning and Re-Learning. Featuring sessions that highlight approaches and strategies that force us to rethink and challenge assumptions, bring in new perspectives, and emphasize active learning and the critical process of unlearning outdated mental models.
- Innovative, interactive and strive for originality in the format or approach.
- Address a statewide approach or a regional or local approach that is transferable or replicable in other localities, regions, or at the state level. Proposals that are narrowly focused on one geographically focused case study are discouraged.
- Complete and clearly articulate the session’s proposed purpose and goals.
Note: Proposals that highlight one agency, product, or business, may be interpreted as an “infomercial” and will be disqualified.
Track Descriptions
Track 1: Produce & Preserve Affordable Homes
Proposals that elevate:
- The latest changes, innovations, learnings, and evidence-based best practices for:
- Advancing equity-centered local, regional, state, or federal level policies, solutions, and programs (e.g., development, entitlement, construction, preservation, sustainable design, affirmatively furthering fair housing, housing element)
- Local, state, federal, and other ongoing and creative funding and financing programs to produce and preserve affordable homes
- Successes and lessons learned from advancing cross-sector partnerships
- New and emerging research to inform our work
- Intersectional approaches that provide multiple benefits to communities
- Models that empower, engage, and center people with lived experience with housing instability and homelessness
Track 2: Solve Homelessness
Proposals that elevate:
- The latest changes, innovations, learnings, and evidence-based best practices for:
- Advancing equity centered local, regional, state, or federal level policies, solutions, and programs to prevent and end homelessness
- Local, state, federal, and other ongoing and creative funding and financing programs to prevent and end homelessness
- Strategies, models, and lessons learned from implementing the Housing First model
- Successes and lessons learned from advancing cross-sector partnerships (e.g., health, behavioral health, re-entry, foster care)
- New and emerging research to inform our work
- Intersectional approaches that provide multiple benefits to communities
- Models that empower, engage, and center unhoused people as central leaders in the work to solve homelessness
Track 3: Protect Low-Income Renters
Proposals that elevate:
- The latest changes, innovations, learnings, and evidence-based best practices for advancing equity centered local, regional, state, or federal level policies, solutions, and programs to protect low-income renters
- Resources, opportunities, and protections for potential and current residents of affordable housing
Tenant-centered organizing and campaigns - Successes and lessons learned from advancing cross-sector partnerships
- New and emerging research to inform our work
- Intersectional approaches that provide multiple benefits to communities
- Models that empower, engage, and center people with lived experience with housing instability and homelessness
Track 4: Shape Housing Narratives & Move Mindsets
Proposals that elevate:
- The latest changes, innovations, learnings, and evidence-based best practices
- Introductory concepts and practices to advance narrative change
- Using narrative as a strategy to build power, capacity, and to drive impact
- Centering people, culture, and art in our work to shape narratives and move mindsets
- Narrative change in a digital world (e.g., rising social media platforms, multimedia content, AI)
- Successes and lessons learned from advancing cross-sector partnerships
- New and emerging research to inform our work
- Models that empower, engage, and center people with lived experience with housing instability and homelessness
Track 5: Advance Intersectional Solutions For Housing Justice
Proposals that elevate:
- Intersectional policy and programmatic solutions to advance housing justice
- Building cross-sector solidarity to support long-term transformative change (e.g., health, public health and healthcare, education, transportation, disability rights, climate change and sustainable communities, criminal justice reform, labor and employment, tax reform, economic, environmental and health justice, immigration, faith)
- Successes, lessons learned, and best practices for creating and advancing cross-sector coalitions and networks
- Models that empower, engage, and center people with lived experience with housing instability and homelessness
- New and emerging research to inform our work
Track 6: Build Power, Increase Solidarity & Win Campaigns at Scale
Proposals that elevate:
- The latest changes, innovations, learnings, evidence-based best practices, and emerging research to increase solidarity, build power, and win campaigns at scale
- Successes and lessons learned from advancing cross-sector campaigns that provide multiple benefits to communities
- Successes, lessons learned, and opportunities to advance efforts that help overcome divides, deepen alignment, and cultivate and advance a shared vision for long-term change
- Campaigns to shape elections in 2025 and beyond (e.g., Gubernatorial, get out the vote, voter education)
- Powerful models of community leadership development, organizing, and power building
- Efforts to change the balance of power and empower, engage, and center people with lived experience with housing instability and homelessness
Track 7: Foster a Strong & Purposeful Housing Justice Sector
Proposals that elevate:
- The latest strategies, approaches, changes, innovations, learnings, evidence-based best practices to strengthen and increase impact of individuals and institutions and build just and equitable organizational systems, structures, processes, and policies
- Growing and sustaining a diverse and impactful housing workforce from the frontline to the boardroom
- The latest strategies, approaches, changes, innovations, learnings, evidence-based best practices to support ongoing leadership development for emerging leaders, managers, executive leaders/c-suite, and/or Boards of Directors
- Strategies to incorporate leadership of individuals with lived experience in institutional decision-making and governance structures