HAP housing set to host urban revitalization program

Date: 10/25/2010

SPRINGFIELD -- HAPHousing Inc will host a program "Restoring Prosperity: Rising to the Foreclosure Challenge," on Nov. 10 at the MassMutual Center on Main Street, bringing together local and national leaders in policy and thought on issues related to urban revitalization, including Alex Kotlowitz, author of the best-seller "There Are No Children Here" and a contributor on the foreclosure crisis to The New York Times.

Restoring Prosperity: Rising to the Foreclosure Challenge will begin with a symposium at 3 p.m. on Nov. 10 featuring Alan Mallach, non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., senior fellow at the Center for Community Progress and the author of many books and articles on urban planning, housing and community development. Kotlowitz will address attendees at 6:30 p.m. as part of HAP's annual dinner gathering, immediately following the symposium.

A representative from Greensboro, N.C. identified as a Resurgent City by the Federal Reserve Board, will also participate in the afternoon panel sessions. Peter Gagliardi, president of HAPHousing Inc., will provide a regional snapshot about foreclosure during the symposium. Other panelists include: Yolanda Kodrzycki, vice president and director of the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Carla Weil, executive director, The Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund; W. Matthew Perrenod, chief lending officer, Housing Partnership Network, Evon J. Smith, executive director, Goler Community Development Corporation.

The afternoon symposium and evening speech by Kotlowitz will address effective local and national strategies and collaborations that can be employed in Greater Springfield to overcome the current wave of foreclosures.

Gagliardi said, "The ongoing foreclosure crisis represents a significant challenge to community efforts to revitalize cities such as Springfield and Holyoke and their neighborhoods, adversely impacting the overall quality of life throughout the Pioneer Valley. We will be exploring strategies to overcome the local effects of this crisis at the conference."

HAPHousing provides a broad range of housing services to meet the needs of low and moderate-income households and is the region's largest nonprofit developer of affordable housing.