NACCED hosted its 2025 Legislative Conference from February 27 to March 2 in Washington, D.C. NACCED’s Legislative Conference gives members an opportunity each year to advocate the association’s top legislative and regulatory priorities, hear from industry leaders on areas of focus and collaborate with fellow county officials on policy initiatives. Additionally, the event serves as an opportunity to reinforce NACCED’s partnership with the National Association of Counties ( NACo) and engage with its leadership through the NACo Legislative Conference .
On Thursday, February 27 NACCED members attended in-person meetings with Capitol Hill offices in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. NACCED members took the opportunity to meet with committee staff and individual member offices. Areas discussed by members with staff included concerns on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) staffing capacity, increased federal appropriations for HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program and the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program.
Thursday concluded with a Capitol Hill briefing hosted by NACCED and NACo, sponsored by Neighborly Software in celebration of the 35th anniversary of HOME. Held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the briefing gave congressional staff an opportunity to hear about the impact and innovation of HOME. Briefing panel participants comprised of Occoquan District Supervisor Kenny Boddye with Prince William County, VA; Julie Hamlin, Community Development Administrator for DuPage County IL; Dana Sjostrom, Planning and Programs Manager for Shelby County, TN; and Marcos Ysmael, Housing Program Manager for Pima County, AZ. Marty Greenlee, Senior Account Director with Neighborly Software served as moderator for the discussion.
On Friday, February 28 NACCED welcomed members both in-person and virtually for its second day of conference programming. Stan Gimont, Senior Advisor for Community Recovery with Hagerty and Andy Winkler, Director of the Housing & Infrastructure Project with the Bipartisan Policy Center began the day with a discussion on CDBG-DR updates. Stan and Andy provided an in-depth look into the history of CDBG-DR allocations and how counties have positively benefited from the program to rebuild in the wake of natural disasters.
Following Stan and Andy was a Washington Update presented by NACCED Policy Director Josh Brandwein and Mike Matthews, NACo Legislative Director for Community, Workforce and Economic Development. Josh and Mike provided members with an update on congressional budget negotiations, NACCED Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 requests, state of play with HUD activity and legislation updates including the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act and New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act . Regulatory topics covered the release of HUD’s HOME Final Rule and recent fair housing regulatory changes .
Concluding the morning sessions was Peter Lawrence , Director of Public Policy & Governmental Relations for Novogradac. Peter presented a deep dive discussion on the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act; impacts of the upcoming expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ; the New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act; expected policy on Opportunity Zones, and the Rural Jobs Act.
On Friday afternoon, attendees debriefed together about their meetings with congressional representatives, strategizing next steps for advocacy efforts. Reflecting on key discussions, they analyzed congressional offices’ responses to policy priorities like HUD staffing levels and program funding, identifying follow-up opportunities and areas requiring further engagement. Members shared insights on effectively messaging county successes with federal programs to Capitol Hill and discussed follow-up actions, including targeted outreach, regional and state office collaboration, and continued education efforts to advance NACCED’s advocacy at the federal level.
On Saturday, March 1 NACCED members attended the NACo Community, Economic & Workforce Development (CEWD) Steering Committee Meeting. CEWD kicked its meeting off with a welcome from committee chair, Hennepin County, MN Commissioner Angela Conley. Following Commissioner Conley was Richard Leadbeater , Provincial Government Industry Solutions manager for ESRI. Richard presented on best practice uses of geographic information system for county community program monitoring.
Next was a presentation given by Karl Eckhart, Vice President of State and Local Government Affairs with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Karl examined current U.S. housing supply market trends, consumer demand data, and mortgage rates studies. He also provided updates on the 119th Congress’s efforts to address the housing crisis.
Brett Beckerson, MSW, Senior Director of Public Policy & Advocacy with the National Council for Mental Wellbeing presented next on NACo EDGE: Mental Health First Aid. Brett spoke on mental health programs NACo offers to county employees and elected officials. Brett also touched on the efforts to destigmatize mental health and substance use challenges to provide more equitable access to quality services.
Next was Kate Emanuel , Chief Strategy Officer with the Ad Council and Blair Corcoran de Castillo, Vice President of Public Sector and Policy with Opportunity@Work. Kate and Blair spoke on challenges faced by workers who do not hold a bachelor’s degree such as a decreased professional network. The presentation highlighted the Ad Council’s collaboration with Opportunity@Work to elevate these workers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs).
Rounding out the morning was Neal Comeau , Councillor with Sturgeon County, Alberta and Chair of the Rural Forum with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and Kathy Valentino, Councillor with the City of Thompson, Manitoba and 2nd Vice-President of FCM. Neal and Kathy discussed potential impacts of U.S. tariffs on municipalities from both sides of the U.S. – Canada border and highlighted the importance of cross-border collaboration.
Friday afternoon began with a presentation by Benjamin Preis , Director of the National Housing Crisis Task Force and Senior Research Fellow of Nowak Lab with Drexel University. Benjamin presented on the task force’s research and offered recommendations to improve the development of affordable housing while also managing market expectations for economic opportunities. The task force remains active in policy recommendations on how public and private sectors can partner on addressing the national shortage of affordable housing.
The CEWD business meeting concluded Saturday’s session with interim policy resolution voting. Mary Keating, NACCED Representative to NACo and Director of Community Services for DuPage County, IL presented four interim resolutions drafted for committee consideration: urging Congress to pass legislation supporting a permanent increase in Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and a permanent extension of the New Markets Tax Credit program; supporting congressional action to pass CDBG reauthorization; supporting permanent reauthorization of CDBG-DR and encourage HUD to provide direct CDBG-DR allocations to CDBG Entitlement Communities; and urging support from both Congress and the Trump Administration for increased federal programs on homelessness assistance. All four proposed interim resolutions passed and will be considered for full adoption by the CEWD Committee during NACo’s 2025 Annual Conference in July.
On Sunday, February 11 NACCED members attended the NACo Large Urban Caucus (LUCC) meeting. County Executive David Crowley of Milwaukee County, WI began the meeting with a call to order. Kathryn Barger , Supervisor of Los Angeles County, CA, Sharon Green Middleton , Council Vice-President of Baltimore City, MD and Sara McTarnaghan, Principal Research Associate with the Housing and Communities Division of the Urban Institute followed with a discussion on natural disaster county impacts. The group spoke on the value of federal government assistance in community rebuilding citing work done in the wake of the recent Los Angeles wildfires as a positive example of relief funding.
Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-MD) joined the stage to have a one-on-one discussion with David Crowley on how federal policy has direct impacts on local housing. A former county official, Rep. Olszewski spoke on the role county governments play in carrying out federal programs at the local level, citing the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American Rescue Plan Act as successful examples of collaboration.
Concluding the LUCC meeting were remarks from a panel consisted of Sara Innamorato , County Executive for Allegheny County, PA, Alan Berube, Nonresident Senior Fellow with Brookings, and Doris Meissner , Senior Fellow and Director for the U.S. Policy Program of the Migration Policy Institute . The group had a discussion on how immigration policies at the federal level impact urban counties. Direct examples were given on how a restrictive approach to immigration can negatively impact urban county growth and decrease workers’ rights.
For further reference, recordings and slide decks from presentations are available on NACCED’s website.
NACCED looks forward to joining NACo at their annual meeting this July in Philadelphia City and County, PA.
