International Housing Coalition (IHC)

On June 11, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded a grant to the IHC. This is the second grant the IHC has received from Rockefeller, which in recent years has taken a keen interest in the world urbanization phenomenon and the plight of the urban poor. The first grant funded the preparation and publication by the IHC of "The Challenge of an Urban World: an Opportunity for U.S. Foreign Assistance". The new one-year grant will help the IHC to further develop its integrated education, information and outreach program. This will strengthen the ability of the IHC to inform and educate members of Congress, the Administration, policy makers, development practitioners, and leaders in developing countries about the importance of addressing housing and urban development issues, and of the impacts of forward-looking urban development strategies and programs.

The Fifth World Urban Forum (WUF V) was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 22 - 26, 2010. The IHC sponsored two networking sessions and participated in a panel discussion at the U.S. Government booth. The panel discussion was on InterAction's role in assisting its members and its policies for providing assistance to the urban poor.

The IHC-sponsored networking sessions were “Slum Upgrading Principles and Practices” moderated by Bob Dubinsky, IHC’s CEO and “Dysfunctional Property Markets” moderated by Nicole Weir, IHC’s policy assistant. The Panelists at the former session were Judith Hermanson, Senior Advisor to InterAction on Urban Affairs and former Vice President at the CHF International, Richard Martin, slum upgrading specialist with the World Bank in the Congo, Danielle Resnick, a PhD candidate in political science at Cornell University who has studied slum upgrading in Africa, and Duane Kissick, former AECOM Vice President and urban expert. The Panelists at the second session were Ron Phipps, 2010 President-Elect of the NAR, Sameh Wahba, Senior Urban Advisor at the World Bank, and Janice Perlman, President and CEO of the Mega-Cites Project.

On April 13 the IHC organized a presentation at InterAction by Steve Feldstein who is on the Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to discuss the status of foreign assistance legislation at Interaction. Feldstein commented on the foreign assistance-related legislation being considered by Congress and Congress' attitude about funding for foreign assistance. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently introduced the Sustainable Urban Development Act of 2010 (S 3229). The House is at work this year to rewrite the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act, which dates to 1961 and is considered out of date as a relic of the Cold War, and unduly complicated because of the plethora of amendments added to it. The IHC is of the view that the drafting of new authorizing legislation is an opportunity to ensure that housing and urban development are properly recognized as legitimate and vital areas of focus as U.S. development agencies formulate their next generation of programs around the world.