Opportunity Starts at Home Campaign joins American Institute of Architects Webinar on The Role of Architects in Housing Equity

By Julie Walker, NLIHC National Campaign Coordinator 

The Opportunity Starts at Home campaign joined a webinar on July 14 hosted by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Right-to-Housing Working Group to discuss the campaign and how architects can participate in affordable housing advocacy. The webinar, “The Role of Architects in Housing Equity: A Multi-sector Perspective,” is part of a series produced by the AIA Right-to-Housing Working Group and nearly 90 architects attended the online event. Each episode asks the questions, “What does the right to housing mean in practice?” and “How can architects contribute?” 

Sabrina Herrell, Attorney and Architect of LOGIK Legal LLC, kicked off the event by sharing the important work of the AIA Right-to-Housing Working Group. In 2017, AIA declared access to housing a fundamental right. Through the webinar series and other engagement activities, the working group calls for design practitioners, academics, researchers, and advocates to advocate for affordable housing.  

Chantelle Wilkinson, NLIHC Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Campaigns, provided an overview of the state of America’s affordable housing crisis. Wilkinson followed by introducing the OSAH campaign, along with best practices for building multi-sector coalitions. She highlighted NLIHC’s Gap report, which measures the availability of rental housing affordable to extremely low-income households, and Out of Reach, a report that calls attention to the disparity between wages and the cost of rental housing.  

Wilkinson discussed OSAH’s mission, key partners, and long-term goal to expand federal housing resources and correct longstanding structural and racial inequities to ensure that people with the lowest incomes can afford a good home, which adds to their quality of life through better health, greater educational attainment, and stronger earnings. 

In addition, Wilkinson shared recommendations for building multi-sector partnerships, including bridging sector connections with intersectional research, emphasizing mutual interdependencies, learning sector-specific terminology, and having flexible “entry points” for coalition participation. Common challenges seen in building these partnerships include partner capacity, lack of common terminology in policy language, different perspectives within a sector, and building coalition in sectors where no relationships currently exist.  

Wilkinson highlighted OSAH’s resources that illustrate housing’s intersection with other sectors, including the campaign’s policy agenda and fact sheets. Wilkinson also reflected on AIA’s role in the Opportunity Roundtable and the recent five-part podcast series co-produced with the AIA Right-to-Housing Working Group, which explores how architects can support housing advocacy. The series is available on Spotify, Apple, and SoundCloud. 

In closing, Wilkinson encouraged attendees to get involved through OSAH’s Take Action page, where individuals can contact their members of Congress in support of key housing legislation.  

Register here to watch a recording of the webinar.