WEST FARGO, ND – North Dakota Housing Finance Agency (NDHFA) recognized Blake Strehlow, executive director of the Housing Authority of Cass County (HACC), with a Champion of Affordable Housing Legacy Award in September at an open house for Monterey and Brighton Place, the housing authority’s new affordable senior housing community in West Fargo, ND.
“North Dakota Housing Finance Agency’s Champion Awards recognize and celebrate the work of the individuals and businesses who make exceptional contributions to affordable housing in North Dakota,” said NDHFA Executive Director Dave Flohr. “Monterey and Brighton Place are just the most recent examples of Blake’s work, bettering communities and the lives of the individuals and families who call affordable housing properties their home.”
Strehlow began working at HACC in 1981. At that time, he and a co-worker managed 195 public housing units for Cass County. Under Strehlow’s leadership, HACC staff has grown to 17 individuals in five offices across the state who now administer federal housing programs for nine additional North Dakota counties – Dunn, LaMoure, McIntosh, McKenzie, Pembina, Ransom, Richland, Stark and Traill. They manage federal Housing Choice Vouchers (known as Section 8), senior housing and public housing projects that serve nearly 1,500 households.
“Blake has been a mentor to many individuals who work in affordable housing. He is generally the first person to greet new housing authority leaders and to offer help,” said Flohr when he presented the award. “His enthusiasm and dedication to the affordable housing community is extraordinary, and he will leave a lasting legacy through his work.”
NDHFA’s Champion of Affordable Housing Legacy award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding efforts at advocating for or providing affordable housing or related services in North Dakota.
NDHFA is a self-supporting and mission-driven state agency dedicated to making housing affordable for all North Dakotans. The North Dakota Industrial Commission, consisting of Governor Doug Burgum as chairman, Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, oversees the agency.
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