Welcoming Bakari Sellers, Brian Goldstone, Tenant Leaders, and Housing Advocates Welcoming Bakari Sellers, Brian Goldstone, Tenant Leaders, and Housing Advocates
Mar 09, 2026
The 2026 Forum will feature conversations with key leaders in Congress, as well as an array of other compelling speakers and panelists. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with and learn from thought leaders, tenant and community leaders, policy experts, researchers, and housing practitioners who will discuss actions needed to protect and expand affordable housing solutions.
Opening Plenary – March 11, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET
A panel discussion with Dushaw Hockett and Rachel D. Godsil from the Perception Institute, “Reclaiming Narrative Power in a Polarized America,” will share new research and insights on polarization and narrative, and discuss how advocates can bridge divides by communicating with greater clarity, courage, and strategic intent.
Bakari Sellers, New York Times best-selling author, attorney, civil rights activist, and political commentator, will join NLIHC’s President and CEO Renee M. Willis for a fireside chat. Sellers has dedicated his career to advancing racial equity. At the age of 22, he was the nation's youngest Black elected legislator. From 2006 to 2014, Sellers represented South Carolina’s 90th district in the state House of Representatives. His ongoing work and influence is revered as a leading voice for his generation. As a CNN analyst, Sellers has elevated public discourse and guided conversations toward meaningful resolution.
Plenary – March 12, 8:30 am – 9:40 am ET
Housing Policy Forum and Leadership Awards Reception supporter, Zillow Group, will present a panel discussion on “Technology and Renter Protections: Tools to Expand Access, Stability, and Equity.” This session brings together advocates, researchers, and industry leaders to examine renter focused tools designed to expand access, strengthen tenant protections, and support housing stability. The discussion will explore how technology can be aligned with tenant protections, affordability, and racial equity—while ensuring transparency, accountability, and meaningful benefit for renters.
Closing Plenary – March 12, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm ET
During the “Getting Past Polarization in Housing Policy” panel discussion, NLIHC senior staff will moderate a conversation with members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs staff who helped to shape bipartisan housing legislation in the 119th Congress.
Housing justice leaders Rob Robinson and Kennetha Patterson will join journalist Brian Goldstone for the “When Housing is Out of Reach” panel to discuss a common but often hidden problem facing our nation: working while experiencing homelessness. In this fireside chat conversation, Robinson and Patterson will speak from unique experiences that closely tie to the themes discussed in Goldstone's best-selling book, There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America. Goldstone will be selling and signing copies of his acclaimed book for Forum attendees on Thursday between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm.