Rm: Congressional Room

*Sponsorship Available – Please contact conferencesponsor@realestatealliance.org

Rm: Presidential Ballroom

Speakers:

• Alliance CEO Ryan Weyandt 
• Alliance President Erin Morrison
• Alliance Immediate Past President Dave Gervase

Join Alliance President Erin Morrison and Immediate Past President Dave Gervase to officially kick of the 2023 LGBTQ+ Housing Policy Symposium.

Speaker: Joe Carlile – OMB, The White House

Speaker: David Stacy – Government Affairs Director, Human Rights Campaign

Panel:

• Dave Gervase (Moderator) – Immediate Past President, LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance
• Lydia Pope – National President, National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB)
• Sara Rodriguez – Past President, National Assiciation of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP)
• Tim Hur – Past President, Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA)
• Erin Morrison – National President, LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance

Join National representatives from The Alliance, NAREB, NAHREP, and AREAA as they dive head-first into discrimination and fair housing issues plaguing America in 2023.

Speaker: Bryan Greene – Vice President of Policy Advocacy, National Association of Realtors.

Speaker: Dr. Lawrence Yun – Chief Economist, National Association of Realtors

Panel:

• Jennifer Green (Moderator) – Chair, Alliance Mortgage Advisory Council; Director of Diversity, Mortgage Investors Group
• Paul Keifer – Sr. Vice President of CRA & Fair Lending Production, Bank of America
• Andre Thompson – Associate Vice President, U.S. Bank
• Jeffrey DeShields – Community Mortgage Sales Manager, TD Bank

Join today’s lending industry decision makers as we talk about the steps that lenders are taking in real-time to combate rising interest rates and get more families into homes in the middle of economic restrictions, limited inventory, and public perception that “now isn’t the time to buy.” Learn about programs, rate adjustments, first time home buyer programs, and other tools agents and lenders alike should know first-hand to be able to share with customers.

Location: Congressional Ballroom

Speakers:

• Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX7)
• TBA
• TBA

Location: Presidential Ballroom

Speaker: Josie Caballero – Director of US Trans Survey & Special Projects, National Center for Transgender Equality

This presentation will focus on the key barriers that trans individuals face when seeking housing, including bigotry based on being visibly trans, issues with identification documents, lack of steady employment or low income, high cost of living in big cities, and the lack of networks and family support. Attendees will gain insight into the housing challenges faced by the transgender community and learn about potential solutions to help address these issues. As a bonus, we will discuss the new sections of the 2022 USTS and new data to look forward to once the full report is released later this year.

Fireside Chat with Cassandra Cantave Burton, LGBTQ+ Segment Subject Matter Expert, Mandla Moyo, Sr. Advisor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion within AARP Livable Communities, and Ryan Weyandt, Alliance CEO.

Panel:

• Moderator – TBA
• Cody Gilkeson – Sr. Manager of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, eXp Realty
• Ivonne Furneaux – Vice President of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Anywhere Real Estate Inc.
• Wayne Woodyard – Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Champion – Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

The LGBTQ+ community is not the only diverse sector seeing rapid growth. Societal acceptance has allowed our community to more than double in the last nine years. At the same time, the Black, Hispanic and Asian American, Native Hawaiin and Pacific Islander communities have also seen dramatic growth. We will learn how major brands have evolved in a nation that is expected to be 50% diverse by 2045. Real estate leaders will share how they have grown and benefited from their employee resource groups and DEI programming to best retain and recruit diverse employees, agents and brokerages, while also working to meet the needs of diverse consumers.

Speakers: Erin Morrison – National President, The Alliance & Dave Gervase – Immediate Past President, The Alliance

It was March 14 when LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance asked the National Association of Realtors, Florida Realtors and Florida Realtors PAC to pull its endorsement of funding of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis based on his repeated discriminatory actions toward diverse groups including the LGBTQ+ community. The Alliance asked all involved parties to recognize that had Governor DeSantis been a Realtor, he would have violated Article 10 of the Realtor Code of Ethics. Since then, the Alliance’s “Article 10 Rule” has been adopted by several associations to ensure that those who receive RPAC support are held to the same standards as Realtors and do not discriminate. But we have a long way to go.

Panel:

• Christopher Suranna – Chair of Alliance Policy Council
• Leigh York – Co-Chair, Alliance Policy Council and Past Chair, NAR Professional Standards Committee
• Mark Mansour – Past Chair, NAR Professional Standards Committee
• Patrick Lynch – Past Member,  NAR Professional Standards Committee

It is not just Statehouses around the nation where anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is occurring along with blatant discrimination. Unfortunately, it’s also occurring in our real estate industry despite an aggressive stance taken by the National Association of Realtors. This critical discussion will examine how gender identity and sexual orientation came to be included in Article 10 of the NAR Code of Ethics along with the recent amendment that prohibits REALTORS® from using harassing speech, hate speech, epithets or slurs based on the protected classes of Article 10. The Town Hall format will allow attendees to weigh in on what the Alliance can and should do when presented with instances of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.

The 3rd annual LGBTQ+ Housing Report utilizes research and our Alliance member survey to gain insight into LGBTQ+ homeownership. We now have a better understanding of what drives LGBTQ+ renters to become homeowners including where those in our community choose to live and why.

Speaker: Jordan Dashow – Executive Director, Congressional Equality Caucus

Kicking off the morning’s program, Jordan Dashow will brief attendees on the fate of the Equality Act, the work being done by almost 200 members of the caucus in Congress, and the battle to be productive in a split congress. Dashow will also address the desire to continue to expand the caucus, and unite both sides of the aisle in an effort to enshrine LGBTQ+ civil rights. 

This first-ever LGBTQ+ Real Estate Professionals Party Caucus will take place on the floor of the conference and all registered members will have the opportunity to cast their vote/voice to solidify a formal stance on policy and industry issues impacting our community in 2023.

Rm: TBA

Alliance CEO Ryan Weyandt delivers closing remarks

Rm: Congressional Balloom

Join attendees and speakers at the post- event reception for networking, a fabulous jazz quartet, beverages, and Hors d’oeuvres