NACCED hosted its 2026 Legislative Conference from February 19 to February 22 in Washington, D.C., offering members an opportunity to advance the association’s federal legislative and regulatory priorities on Capitol Hill, engage directly with key policymakers and collaborate with fellow county officials on emerging policy solutions shaping the year ahead. 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 19 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 both committee staff and individual member offices. Areas discussed by members with staff included educational overview of association-supported provisions in the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act and Housing for the 21st Century Act; concerns on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) staffing adequacy; and increased federal appropriations for HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program.
Thursday concluded with a Capitol Hill briefing, Housing in Motion, hosted by NACCED and NACo, sponsored by Neighborly Software. Held in the Rayburn House Office Building, the briefing gave congressional staff an opportunity to hear about Terwilliger Place in Arlington County, VA, a nationally recognized example of how local governments can successfully preserve and modernize affordable housing.
The briefing explored how strategic partnerships, innovative financing and federal resources can be leveraged to protect long-term affordability while meeting the needs of residents and working families. Briefing participants included NACCED President Jennifer Daniels, Planning and Community Development Supervisor with Arlington County, VA; Mitch Crispell, Director of Real Estate Development with True Ground Housing Partners; and Marty Greenlee, Senior Account Director with Neighborly Software.
On Friday, February 28 NACCED welcomed members both in-person and virtually for its second day of conference programming. NACCED Policy Director Josh Brandwein and Jared Grigas, NACo Associate Legislative Director for Community, Workforce and Economic Development, provided an overview of current activity with both the ROAD to Housing Act and Housing for the 21st Century Act in the 119th Congress; a lookahead to Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 negotiations; and an update on the current status of HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program.
Following lunch and a presentation on Neighborly Software by Marty Greenlee, Rachel Werner, Principal with MyFedTrainer kicked off Friday’s afternoon sessions with Navigating Federal Grants in 2026. Rachel delivered a comprehensive overview of recent federal updates and emerging issues shaping the grantmaking landscape. She outlined top strategies to strengthen compliance systems and refine grant writing protocols, including managing terms and conditions, improving narrative development, enhancing reporting practices and strengthening eligibility tracking. Rachel also provided timely updates on CDBG and HOME, explaining how recent executive actions and HUD guidance could influence implementation at the county level.
Next up was Phillip Escoriaza, Partner with Feldesman LLP. Phillip led a timely session on the fundamentals of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) and clarified how the statute shapes eligibility requirements for federally funded programs. The session reviewed ongoing litigation and explained how court challenges continue to influence compliance obligations for grantees. Phillip also discussed agency rulemaking activity and highlighted current implementation issues that local jurisdictions face. The session concluded by outlining what stakeholders should expect in 2026 and offered practical guidance to help NACCED members prepare for potential policy shifts.
Stan Gimont, Senior Advisor for Community Recovery with Hagerty Consulting provided conference attendees an update on Federal Disaster Recovery Insights for 2026. Stan spoke on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Reform Council; potential FEMA policy and operational changes; outlook on Capitol Hill statutory changes to disaster recovery programs; and possible impacts of federal legislative and regulatory movement impacting county disaster response.
Concluding Friday’s sessions was a presentation by Ginny Sardone, former Director of HUD’s Office of Affordable Housing Programs on the agency’s HOME Final Rule. Coming into force on April 20, 2025, Ginny gave a thorough walkthrough of the Final Rule including compliance best practice tips on income determinations; predevelopment costs; streamlining rental housing programs, administrative simplification for participating jurisdiction tenant assistance; and unit inspection requirements.
On Saturday, February 21 NACCED members attended the NACo Community, Economic & Workforce Development (CEWD) Steering Committee Meeting. CEWD began its meeting with a welcome from committee chair, Hennepin County, MN Commissioner Angela Conley. Following Commissioner Conley was Gail Ravnitzky Silberglied, Senior Director of Government Relations and Advocacy for the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB). Gail presented on advocacy efforts by both NAWB and NACo on the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
A policy priority for NACo members, WIOA aligns workforce development programs to coordinate the needs of both job seekers and employers through collaboration. A successful reauthorization of WIOA would provide an opportunity to increase regional collaboration within states through local workforce areas and improve the American Job Center system.
Next was a presentation by Brandon Butler, Founder of Pinnacle Strategies. Brandon expanded on opportunities that can be brought with a WIOA reauthorization including business investment into workforce development; county government collaboration with technical education; sustainable wage support; and job seeker assistance through both state and local employment programs.
Ben Page, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Economic Development and Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) presented next on federal perspectives with workforce development. Ben provided a deep dive into EDA’s use of American Rescue Plan funds for job training; public-private partnerships for employment opportunities; disaster response training for federal staff; and reorganization within EDA aimed at increased focus on artificial intelligence pilot programs.
Next was a panel discussion, Counties for a Guaranteed Income, consisting of panelists Toni Carter, former Commissioner of Ramsey County, MN; Ryan Mello, County Executive of Pierce County, WA; Toni Preckwinkle, President of Cook County, IL; and Emily Wilek, Senior Policy Analyst with the Bipartisan Policy Center. The group discussed efforts at the local level to increase economic security; takeaways from county guaranteed income pilot programs; and best practice uses for federal economic development grants.
Jared Grigas followed the panel by providing a Federal Policy Update. Jared spoke to CEWD members on topics including a FY27 outlook; NACo advocacy on CoC; Housing for the 21st Century Act takeaways; and NACo research conducted around Section 206 (Build Now Act) of the ROAD to Housing Act, a provision that proposes tying CDBG fund allocations to housing activity metrics.
Next were Karl Eckhart, Vice President of State and Local Government Affairs with the National Association of Home Builders and Bryan Greene, Vice President of Policy Advocacy with the National Association of Realtors for a discussion, Housing Policy Trends: Industry Perspectives. Karl and Bryan spoke on solutions to housing challenges in non-entitlement communities including updating standards for modular housing; ways to incentivize housing construction through legislation; and modern approaches to tax increment financing.
The CEWD business meeting concluded Saturday’s session with interim policy resolution voting. NACCED had resolutions passed during NACo’s 2025 Annual Conference CEWD meeting on July 11, presented by Mary Keating, NACCED Representative to NACo and Director of Community Services for DuPage County, IL.
The passed resolutions include: congressional and Trump Administration support for HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) federal staff to aid in the administration of critical programs; support for congressional reauthorization of CDBG; support for permanent congressional reauthorization of the CDBG – Disaster Recovery Grant Program (CDBG-DR); support for congressional reauthorization of the HOME; and urging support from both Congress and the Trump Administration for increased federal programs on homelessness assistance. The resolutions will be considered for renewal during NACo’s 2026 Annual Conference this summer.
On Sunday, February 22 NACCED members attended the NACo Large Urban Caucus (LUCC) meeting. Adrian Garcia, Commissioner of Harris County, TX began the meeting with a call to order. U.S. Department of State Senior Advisor Matt Squeri followed with a presentation to the committee exploring ways counties can safely optimize engagement with China-related trade, technology, academia and infrastructure.
A fireside chat followed between Los Angeles County, CA Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Ronnie Kurtz, Assistant Secretary for CPD. Supervisor Barger spoke with Assistant Secretary Kurtz on county support for CoC; grant program oversight; and disaster recovery efforts through CDBG-DR.
Concluding the LUCC meeting were remarks from a panel consisted of Alyia Gaskinr, Mayor of the City of Alexandria, VA; Sara Innamorato, County Executive of Allegheny County, PA; and Devon Kurtz, Public Safety Policy Director for the Cicero Institute. The group discussed wraparound services provided by counties to bolster health assistance; the importance of state and local government collaboration for unhoused population remediation; and opportunities for public-private shelter partnerships.
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 New Orleans, LA.
