HOUSING AUTHORITY OF DANVILLE

News release

The Housing Authority of Danville received three Awards of Merit from NAHRO, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, on July 11. It is the leading housing and community development advocate for the provision of adequate and affordable housing and strong, viable communities for all Americans — particularly those with low and moderate incomes. 

The Housing Authority of Danville received Awards of Merit for the following:

Community Service Center — Supplied with a full kitchen, spacious meeting room and a computer lab of eight desktop computers, the Housing Authority of Danville’s Community Service Center offers budgeting classes, cooking classes, after-school tutoring and more. The center and the Resident Services Program aim to enhance the lives of residents of all ages. The housing authority has partnered with several community partners to promote activities and programs that support health and wellness, financial stability and self-sufficiency.

Social Media — In a rural county of less than 30,000 people near Lexington, the Housing Authority of Danville is consistently looking for ways to attract residents from the community, neighboring counties, and even across the nation. It decided to use social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter, to keep residents and the community up-to-date on the happenings with local, state and federal government, as it pertains to public housing. In the meantime, social media also lets people know about the opportunities and programs being offered to the residents of the Housing Authority of Danville. 

Website Redesign — The Housing Authority of Danville previously had a very basic, generic website with some general public housing information displayed. In 2017, the housing authority partnered with eLink Designs out of Lexington to do a complete overhaul of its website. It wanted something more user-friendly while also being able to update residents, contractors, and others of all things pertaining to the Housing Authority of Danville. The new site won SERC-NAHRO website of the year for 2018. 

Executive Director for the Housing Authority of Danville Tim Kitts received a certificate of recognition for outstanding service with the 2017-2019 Southeastern Regional Council

National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Official (SERC-NAHRO) Emerging Leaders Committee. 

Ninety public housing and community development agencies from across the country received 207 NAHRO Awards of Merit for a wide range of affordable housing and community development programs, including housing for seniors, veterans and families, youth education partnerships, healthcare initiatives, job readiness projects, and more. 

The NAHRO Awards of Merit program was created to give national recognition to the achievement and innovation of NAHRO members throughout the country; to provide additional opportunities to inform the public of the best in housing and community development; and to create a resource bank of information on significant, innovative activities performed by housing and redevelopment agencies and community development departments.   

A full list of awardees and descriptions of all the winning programs can be found in NAHRO’s Awards of Merit catalog, available online at www.nahro.org/agency-awards.