2024 Housing California Annual Conference Proposal Guidelines
2024 marks the 45th Anniversary of Housing California’s Annual Conference and this year’s theme will be “Celebrating Successes, Shaping the Future”. We ask conference participants to embrace the vision, values, and goals of Housing California and the Roadmap Home 2030. 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 lower 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: Session proposal application has now closed.
- 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 a 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 6) |
Four hours | Learning labs may include more than four moderators and/or speakers. | Learning labs provide an opportunity to dive deeper into a topic or concept with a 4 hour time frame. Learning labs occur pre-conference and require a separate registration fee for attendees. A facilitation plan with desired learning outcomes should be planned out in advance. |
| Workshop (March 7-8) |
One Hour and Fifteen Minutes | Four (4) people maximum. This may be one (1) moderator and three (3) co-presenters or a combination of four (4) people of your choosing. | Workshops are held in a classroom style setting with up to four presenters. Workshops should be interactive and allow for an attendee question and answer period(s). |
| New for 2024! Roundtable Discussion (March 7-8) |
One Hour and Fifteen Minutes | One to two facilitators. | Roundtable discussions are facilitated conversations in a smaller group setting. The goal of this format type is to collectively share and discuss, problem solve, and 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- Equity-centered policy strategy, solutions, and investments at the local, regional, state, or federal level to produce and preserve affordable homes.
- Development, entitlement, construction, preservation, and sustainable design best practices, changes, and innovations.
- The latest changes, innovations, and best practices for local, state, federal, and other funding and financing programs for rental and ownership housing.
- New and emerging research to inform our work to produce and preserve affordable homes.
- Resources, opportunities, and protections to potential and current residents of affordable housing.
- Integrated community development approaches that provide multiple benefits to communities.
Track 2: Solve Homelessness
Proposals that elevate:
- Equity-centered policy strategy, solutions, and investments at the local, regional, state, and federal levels to solve homelessness.
- Strategies and models of successful implementation of the Housing First model.
- Evidence-based best practices innovations, and cross-sector partnerships to solve homelessness.
- New and emerging research to inform our work to solve homelessness.
- Models that empower and engage unhoused people as central leaders in the work to solve homelessness.
Track 3: Protect Low-Income Renters
Proposals that elevate:
- Equity-centered strategies and solutions to protect people from discrimination and displacement and increase housing stability of low income renters, people of color and other marginalized communities.
- Best practices, innovations, and research, to inform our work to protect low income renters.
- Examples of successful cross-sector partnerships to expand protections for low-income renters and other marginalized households.
- Tenants’ rights organizing efforts and campaigns.
Track 4: Shape Housing Narratives & Move Mindsets
Proposals that elevate:
- Narrative change 101.
- Evidence-based best practices, the latest changes, innovations, and research, and cross-sector partnerships to shape narratives and move mindsets.
- Using narrative as a strategy to build power, capacity, and 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).
Track 5: Advance Cross-Sector Solutions
Proposals that elevate:
- Intersectional policy and programmatic solutions to advance housing justice.
- Innovative strategies and best practices for working in cross-sector coalitions and networks.
- Intersectional partnerships that advance and accelerate cross-sector impact (e.g., with leaders and partners from sectors such as health, public health, 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).
Track 6: Build a Powerful & Purposeful Housing Justice Movement
Proposals that elevate:
- Efforts to change the balance of power and center the experiences of those most impacted by the affordable housing and homelessness crisis.
- Powerful models of community leadership development, organizing, and power building.
- Campaigns to shape elections in 2024 and beyond (e.g., ballot measures, get out the vote, voter education).
- Strategies to strengthen and build just and equitable organizational systems, structures, processes, and policies that are actively anti-racist and fully embrace justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.
- Growing and sustaining a diverse and impactful workforce from the frontline to the board room.
- Building cross-sector solidarity to support long term transformative change.