NLIHC Media Awards

The 2009 NLIHC Media Awards

The 2009 Media Award winner is Kim Horner of The Dallas Morning News. Ms. Horner will receive the award Monday, April 12 during a luncheon at NLIHC’s 2010 Annual Housing Policy Conference and Lobby Day .

Ms. Horner is being recognized for a series of five articles, entitled Chronic Homelessness in Dallas, she wrote that were published between March 30 and December 13, 2009. The articles all focus on Dallas’ struggle to house its 1,000+ chronically homeless individuals.

Ms. Horner has covered homelessness, housing and social services at The Dallas Morning News since 2003 and has worked at the newspaper since 1998. Before that, she worked at the Arlington Morning News in Texas, Texas Lawyer, the North County Times in Oceanside, California and the Star-News in Chula Vista, Calif.

Ms. Horner received a 2008-09 Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, which provided support for her series on chronic homelessness. She has also been honored by the Texas Homeless Network, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health America of Dallas, Texas Associated Press Managing Editors, Dallas Bar Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the American Cancer Society.

She received bachelors’ degrees in English and journalism from The University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in humanities from The University of Texas at Dallas.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.

The 2009 Media Awards recognize print journalists who make a dedicated effort to inform the public about the inequities in housing and to add to the understanding of the disparities between the well-housed and the poorly or un-housed in a community, and to encourage journalists who do not normally cover low income housing issues to do so.

Below are links to Kim Horner’s articles:

• "Battling homelessness in Dallas requires more housing, mental health services, advocates say"

• "As mental health support wanes, many doomed to homelessness"

• "'Frequent fliers' run up Dallas County's homeless tab"

• "Seattle's 1811 Eastlake project puts housing first, saves lives and money"

• "Unwelcome mat out for projects to house chronically homeless"

For more information, please contact: Taylor Materio, Communications Associate, taylor@nlihc.org or 202-662-1530 x227