NLIHC’s 2020 Housing Policy Forum was scheduled to take place on March 25-27, and other NLIHC events planned that week included the our state partners’ meeting, a special session for resident leaders, a Capitol Hill Day, and our annual Housing Leadership Awards Reception. With coronavirus spreading in the U.S., and with the health and safety of all attendees, their families, and their communities as our top priority, NLIHC has cancelled the Housing Policy Forum and Capitol Hill Day and postponed the Housing Leadership Awards Reception. NLIHC will refund 100% of all registration fees and will process refunds in the coming days. Forum registrants have already received an email with more information.
This was an extremely difficult decision given how hard the NLIHC team had planned for an outstanding Forum, and how much we were looking forward to reconnecting, learning, strategizing, and building power with many of you. But you have important work to do back home in your communities, and we need our movement to end homelessness and housing poverty to be healthy and strong.
There is still much we do not know about the virus and its spread, and health professionals are providing practical ways people can protect themselves and their communities. Here’s what we do know: the World Health Organization has declared the situation a pandemic, and the CDC has issued guidance advising that people over 60 years old or those with underlying health conditions should avoid crowds. Many of our Forum participants meet this definition. Additionally, the CDC recommended issuing guidance that seniors and people with underlying health issues not fly on commercial airlines because of the coronavirus, but the White House would not allow such guidance to be issued. We take this guidance from our country’s leading health professionals very seriously.
Ultimately, we concluded that we simply could not risk having our gathering contribute to illness for our Forum attendees or for the people and communities they work with back home.
We at NLIHC look forward to talking with many of you on today’s National Call on Coronavirus and Housing/Homelessness at 2:30 p.m. ET. Please take care of yourselves and your neighbors, stay healthy and strong. Thank you for all you do.