Last week, MPHA’s team was recognized with numerous awards during the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials’ (NAHRO) 2024 National Conference in Orlando, Florida. The agency’s Family Housing Expansion Project (FHEP) earned an Award of Merit and MPHA ED/CEO Abdi Warsame was named NAHRO’s Outstanding Professional of the Year. These awards are just the latest in a series of honors and recognition the agency has received this year for its incredible work.
With this most recent award, FHEP continues to be recognized for its nation-leading innovation to help tackle the affordable housing crisis. Using modular construction and leveraging unique partnerships in a first-of-its-kind project, the FHEP brought 84 new, deeply affordable family homes to 16 sites across Minneapolis. The project has attracted the attention of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and continues to receive statewide, national, and international recognition, including being a finalist for the 2024 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Americas Awards for Excellence, a Top Project by Finance & Commerce, a winner of the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (NALHFA) 2024 Award of Excellence, a finalist in the Minnesota Real Estate Journal awards, and a top 25 finalist in Ivory Innovations’ Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability.
During the final morning plenary session of the conference, MPHA ED/CEO Abdi Warsame was honored with NAHRO’s Outstanding Professional of the Year award, the organization’s highest and most prestigious award. Speaking to a crowd of housing leaders from every corner of the country, Abdi dedicated the award to MPHA’s team members who are helping the agency chart a new path, approaching old problems with new passion. Abdi is the first Minnesotan to win this award and joins recent recipients that include Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Adrianne Todman, who was recognized with this award when she served as Executive Director of the District of Columbia Housing Authority.
Abdi’s leadership award comes on the heels of MPHA’s Mary Boler receiving the Allan Anderson Award of Merit recognizing a lifetime of achievement from the Minnesota Chapter of NAHRO last month. While recent awards and recognition for agency and staff have been hard earned and well deserved, the work does not stop for MPHA. The agency still has a major redevelopment announcement coming later this month, a levy budget that needs to be approved by the Minneapolis City Council, and an annual budget that needs to be approved by MPHA’s Board of Commissioners later this year.