Award Honorees
NHPF 2021 Affordable Housing Trailblazer Award Representative Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY)
NHPF 2021 Affordable Housing Trailblazer Award Representative Ann Wagner (R-MO)
Ann Wagner’s career is both deep and broad in service to her hometown, state and nation with over 30 years of work in the private sector, community and public service, and the political arena. The representative is a co-Sponsor of H.R.3077 Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of
Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez is currently serving as Representative for New York’s
7th Congressional District. In the 117th Congress, she is the Chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee, a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, and a member
2019 and Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2019. The 2nd District has always been home for Ann, whose public service began at the grassroots level. She served for nine years as a local committeewoman in Lafayette Township and went on to Chair the Missouri Republican Party, delivering historic Republican gains. She also served as Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee during the first term of President George W. Bush. In 2005, following nomination by President Bush and confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Ann was sworn in as the 19th U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She served as U.S. Ambassador for four years before returning to her home in Ballwin, Missouri. Ann then decided to put her own name on the ballot and won her first Congressional race with over 60% of the vote, receiving more votes that election cycle than any other Republican Congressional candidate in Missouri. She took office in January of 2013 and was selected by both her freshman and sophomore class to be their representative on the Elected Leadership Committee. As representative from the 2nd District, Congresswoman Wagner serves as Vice Ranking Member on both the House Financial Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. Ann has made combating sex trafficking and online exploitation of women and children major legislative priorities. She authored the SAVE Act, which amended the Federal criminal code to allow prosecutions of those who knowingly advertise sex slavery, along with the Put Trafficking Victims First Act and the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). FOSTA became law in April of 2018 and is the most significant anti-trafficking law Congress has passed in nearly 20 years, finally giving local, state, and federal prosecutors the tools they need to hold websites accountable when they profit from the sale of sex trafficking victims.
of the House Committee on Natural Resources. The representative has been the lead or co-sponsor of numerous pieces of affordable housing legislation including: H.R.4546 Public Housing Emergency Response Act, H.R.5187 Housing is Infrastructure Act of 2020 / S.2951 Housing is Infrastructure Act of 2019, H.R.3077 Affordable Housing Tax Credit Improvement Act / S.1703 Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2019, H.R.1856 Ending Homelessness Act of 2019, H.R.3018 Ensuring Equal Access to Shelter Act of 2019 / S.2007 Ensuring Equal Access to Shelter Act of 2019, H.R.2914 Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act of 2019 / S.1605, and Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act of 2019. In 1992, Velázquez was elected to the House of Representatives to represent New York's 7th District. Her district includes parts of Brooklyn, Queens and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Encompassing many diverse neighborhoods, it is home to a large Latino population, Jewish communities, and parts of Chinatown. She has made history several times during her tenure in Congress. In 1992, she was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In February 1998, she was named Ranking Democratic Member of the House Small Business Committee, making her the first Hispanic woman to serve as Ranking Member of a full House committee. In 2006, she was named Chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee, making her the first Latina to chair a full Congressional committee. As a fighter for equal rights of the underrepresented and a proponent of economic opportunity for the working class and poor, Congresswoman Velázquez combines sensibility and compassion, as she works to encourage economic development, protect community health and the environment, combat crime and worker abuses, and secure access to affordable housing, quality education and health care for all New York City families.
4 • THE NHP FOUNDATION 2021 SYMPOSIUM
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