Initiatives

Housing & Schools

Connecting the Dots Between Housing & Schools

You can find our housing & schools guidebook, Community Conversations: Aligning Local Housing and Schools Policy for Successful Schools in Strong Neighborhoods, by clicking on the image to the left.

We hope that with this guidebook, housing and community development professionals and educators can work to build stronger whole communities with coordinated strategies. This book is just the beginning of the dialogue – if you would like to start a housing and schools conversation in your community, contact us today.


Beginning in 2014, HousingForward Virginia took on a multi-year initiative to explore the connection between affordable housing and schools. HousingForward Virginia kicked off this policy project with a Housing & Schools Symposium in partnership with the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for Urban & Regional Analysis and School of Education.

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Over 200 housing professionals and educators came together for the first time in Virginia to discuss the important relationship between student success and where and how students live outside the classroom. The success from the first symposium also inspired a second symposium in 2015, this time focusing specifically on schools in the face of changing demographics.

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2014 Symposium Materials

2015 Symposium Materials

Other resources:

If your organization is interested in sponsoring HousingForward Virginia’s “Housing & Education” projects, please click here.

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