It's already Tuesday, and we're just now getting around to blogging about an important milestone that was reached this week, but we couldn't let this one get by us. Here's the news:

The Michigan Conference on Affordable Housing celebrates its tenth year and is now the largest conference of its kind in the country.

What started as an informal meeting between representatives from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) and other key players within the affordable housing industry evolved into an annual conference attracting more than one thousand participants from across the country.

"I never could have imagined the growth and power of this annual conference 11 years ago," said Mark McDaniel, President and CEO of Great Lakes Capital Fund, and one of the original thought-leaders behind the conference. McDaniel continued, "It started with an impromptu meeting where industry advocates gathered to discuss how to continue building communication, training and coalition strength between the affordable housing and economic development sectors."

This morning, conference-goers heard from Ed Gramlich, Director of Outreach for the National Low Income Housing Coalition, about recent developments with the National Housing Trust Fund, which we've written about before here on the blog.

As always, the Trust Fund staff has been on-hand for the conference and will be attending Advocacy Day at the State Capitol tomorrow, so keep an eye out for us in the crowd of 1,700 people. Remember, housing = jobs!