Leadership in affordable housing is something we should all be following and supporting.  We should be especially proud how many women who are minorities have taken such defining and important leadership roles within our industry.  While there is work to do and affordable housing like other industries need to improve, these women are forging quite a path.  Lets be clear that these women are leaders making an impact period!

Tina Aker-Brown Chief Executive Officer Greensboro Housing Authority, Greensboro, NC  Tina has done much in affordable housing including Initiating the creation of the NC Public Housing Authorities Finance Corp. to issue bonds on a pooled basis.  She also collaborated with NC A&T University and the University of NC, Greensboro on a Student Intern Unit program that brought students to work at the Housing Authority

Lisa Hasegawa  was the Executive Director of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD.  She recently  received the Cushing Niles Dolbeare Lifetime Service Award for leading national efforts to address the affordable housing needs of low income Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and working in coalition with other civil rights organizations and advocates throughout her career for people who are poor.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles may not be working directly in affordable housing but has shown herself to be a leader within the advocacy for affordable housing.  She recently pushed a $50 million dollar housing trust fund initiative to the forefront of Charlotte’s politics.  Her desire to create and design more affordable housing within one of America’s largest cities lands here squarely in the top 5 of leadership within the USA.

Adrianne Todman is the CEO of NAHRO, the National Organization of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.   Before joining NAHRO, Ms. Todman served as the Executive Director at the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) from 2009-2017. At DCHA, Ms. Todman created a national award-winning model to house homeless veterans, opened the first public housing assisted living facility, increased homeownership opportunities by 50 percent, increased the number of affordable units available for low-income families, and managed 12 concurrent large redevelopment efforts.  Prior to her tenure at DCHA, Ms. Todman served as a policy assistant in the Office of the Secretary at HUD and a legislative director in the U.S. House of Representatives

Elizabeth Morales is the Executive Director of the Mesa Housing Authority.  She is well known in the Valley of the Sun having served in leadership positions with the Phoenix Housing Authority and a behavioral health housing provider prior to that.  She currently is the Arizona NAHRO chapter president and provides leadership on conferences and events for the entire state. She has also been a strong voice for increased funding not only locally but nationally.

Who else do you know that is leading the way?  Email us at info@housing-futures.org or leave a comment.