About Us
Board of Directors
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President Tom Scott has been the executive director of the San Diego Housing Federation since January 2002. The San Diego Housing Federation is a membership organization for affordable housing developers; community development corporations; builders; architects; local governments; financial institutions; social service agencies; and individuals that support increasing the supply of homes affordable to low income families and individuals. Prior to joining the Federation, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Community HousingWorks, a nonprofit affordable housing developer. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Anchorage Neighborhood Housing Services in Anchorage, Alaska. He spent 25 years in the emergency medical services industry as a state regulator, researcher, writer, consultant and association manager. He has a B.A. in Sociology/Social Work from LaSalle College in Philadelphia and a Master's Degree from the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration. Mr. Scott was appointed to the Poway Housing Commission by Poway Mayor Mickey Cafagna in 2003. Mr. Scott has lived next door to an affordable housing apartment complex in Poway for 14 years and a half-block from a new affordable family apartment project that opened in 1998. He prides himself on being a YIMBY with credibility. |
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Vice President Mr. Hunter joined the staff of CSH in November 2000. CSH helps communities create permanent housing with services to prevent and end homelessness. CSH provides direct assistance and predevelopment lending to project sponsors, conducts training to build the capacity of organizations to develop supportive housing and works to create integrated public systems to better finance and support the development of supportive housing. Prior to joining CSH, Mr. Hunter was employed by Episcopal Community Services (ECS) in San Diego for thirteen years. During ten years as Executive Vice President, he carried primary responsibility for strategic planning, program development and quality assurance. ECS employed more than 400 people delivering services in three southern California counties through programs including Housing (Transitional and Permanent), Alcohol and Drug Services, Mental Health Services, Women's Services, Emergency Services, Child Development, Primary Health Care, Employment and Welfare to Work, Youth Services and Chaplaincy. Mr. Hunter developed the agency's first housing projects that provided both transitional and permanent housing solutions for homeless people with a severe mental illness. Programs designed by Mr. Hunter were recognized at both the state and national level for innovation in responding to the needs of homeless adults and families. |
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2nd Vice President Dora Leong Gallo is the Chief Executive Officer of A Community of Friends (ACOF), a nonprofit affordable housing development corporation whose mission is to develop permanent supportive housing for people with special needs. Established in 1988, ACOF has completed 29 apartment buildings throughout Los Angeles and Orange County, with another nine projects in various stages of development. Prior to joining ACOF, Ms. Gallo served in various capacities on the staff of former Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas (now a State Senator), including Chief of Staff. She also spent several years working for the Culver City Redevelopment Agency and the City of Los Angeles in the Office of the Chief Legislative Analyst. Ms. Gallo received a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. She is a member of Enterprise Community Partner's National Network Advisory Board, and serves as a Board member for the Southern California Association of Non Profit Housing (SCANPH) and Housing California. Ms. Gallo is currently a Mayoral appointee on the City of Los Angeles' Neighborhood Council Review Commission. |
| Secretary Judith Bell leads the development of the PolicyLink signature strategies for achieving economic and social equity. She develops new programs and partnerships focused on achieving policy impact and is the author of the PolicyLink monthly column Policy Watch. Her areas of expertise include equitable development; affordable housing, and health disparities. She conducted research and co-authored the PolicyLink-Housing California report: Expanding Opportunity: New Resources to Meet California's Housing Needs and served as senior advisor to PolicyLink coalition work to advance inclusionary zoning in Washington, DC. Bell has conducted advocacy trainings across the country and is the author of Advocating for Equitable Development and the online toolkit Advocating for Change. She leads the organization's research and advocacy on health disparities and improving disinvested communities' access to healthy foods. She holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz and completed a Master of Public Administration at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she was also a Lucius M. Littauer Fellow. |
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Treasurer David Ferrier is the Executive Director of Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP), a non-profit affordable housing developer based in Chico, in the northern Sacramento Valley. He has 23 years of experience working in rental housing, homeownership housing and administration. CHIP has constructed more than 1,800 units of housing in Northern California and the agency has been acknowledged as an innovator and leader, particularly on rural housing issues. From 1998 through 2003, he was the Chairman of the California Coalition for Rural Housing, the oldest statewide housing advocacy group in the nation and has been a Board member of that group since 1993. Mr. Ferrier has also been an active member of the State Department of Housing and Community Development's HOME advisory group as well as the Board of Directors of the National Rural Housing Coalition. Mr. Ferrier received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Information and Communication Studies from California State University at Chico in 1980. |
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Neelura Bell |
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Chris Block |
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Joan Burke |
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Sam Cobbs |
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Hannah Cohen Hannah Cohen has her own consultancy business specializing in homeless and affordable housing issues. She is currently the Housing and Homeless Policy Specialist for The Center for Aging Resources, Heritage Clinic headquartered in Pasadena, with offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, Inglewood and Palmdale. She was the consultant to United Way SD contracted to oversee the development, writing and approval process for the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in the San Diego. She has provided consultant services throughout San Diego County and has an established reputation for capacity building skills and an emphasis on obtainable outcomes and goals. Ms. Cohen provides leadership on a variety of committees to address homeless including the Regional Taskforce on Homelessness, the Mental Health Services Housing Council, SD Regional Continuum of Care and the SD Mental Health Coalition. She also participates on the SD Housing Federation Policy and Education Committees. She chairs HCA Homeless Policy Working Group and the Fundraising Committee. She established CA Keys, a state-wide collaborative of CA municipalities, that share information on chronic homeless plan development and advocates for funding for chronic plans implementation. Ms. Cohen has 25 years of experience in housing development issues. |
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Elissa Dennis Community Economics, Inc. |
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Emily Gordon Emily Gordon is the Assistant Director of the Research Department at the Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers - West (SEIU UHW). With 140,000 members, SEIU UHW is the largest union of healthcare workers on the West Coast. It represents nursing, service, technical and maintenance workers in hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies and clinics throughout California. Emily has worked as a part of SEIU UHW's research department for the past five years, developing and implementing strategic campaigns in support of the union's organizing and bargaining activities. She also performs budget and other financial analysis and conducts research into companies and policy issues in the healthcare industry. Prior to working at SEIU UHW she worked at Prevention Institute, a national non-profit dedicated to improving community health and well-being by building momentum for effective primary prevention. She has also worked on a variety of other social justice issues including affordable housing and prison reform. She currently serves as a delegate to the Alameda County Labor Council. |
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Tim O'Connell Mr. O'Connell is Century Housing's primary liaison with elected representatives, legislative staff, and appointed administrative officials in the on-going effort to assure that affordable housing and related issues receive appropriate consideration. Prior to coming to Century Housing Corporation, Mr. O'Connell served as Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer, San Diego Housing Commission. In that position, he provided policy support to the CEO and Board of Commissioners, as well as serving as primary liaison between that agency and the Mayor and City Council, who served as the City's Housing Authority. Mr. O'Connell served Maureen O'Connor during her term as Mayor of the City of San Diego as Director of Program Development for Growth & Development. Mr. O'Connell received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego, School of Law. Mr. O'Connell is currently president of the California Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (CAL-ALHFA). He is also a member of the American Planning Association (APA), the California State Bar, and the Urban & Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and serves on the board of Housing California. |
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Geeta Rao Geeta joined the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH) in October 2003. As Policy Director, she oversees policy development and regional advocacy, and works with the NPH Board and Legislative Issues Committee to craft the legislative agenda for the association. Geeta has worked on local housing trust fund campaigns, various local inclusionary policies, as well as coordinating the activities of the Nine County Housing Advocacy Network. She developed the first progress report on Prop 46 which has now become a model for other groups around the state. Before NPH, she directed the Community Design program at Urban Ecology where she managed several participatory-planning projects. Geeta received a Masters of City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, with a concentration in Housing and Community Development. She currently serves on the boards of the Transportation and Land Use Coalition and Housing California. |
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Kalima Rose |
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Matt Schwartz As Executive Director of the California Housing Partnership Corporation, Matt assists nonprofit and government organizations with the preservation and creation of affordable housing through policy advocacy, technical assistance, training and financial consulting. Matt has worked in the development, planning and financing of affordable housing for more than fifteen years in both the private and public sectors. Matt also plays a leadership role in shaping California legislation and regulations to expand the resources available to preserve and create affordable housing in the state. In addition to being President of the Board of Housing California, Matt is a Member of the Board of Governors of the California Housing Consortium, a participant in the National Preservation Working Group, and was a member of the Housing Assistance Council's Rural Preservation Task Force. He received a Master's Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and a Bachelor's Degree from Stanford University. |
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Mona Tawatao Mona Tawatao has been a regional counsel with Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC) since October 1999. In this capacity, Ms. Tawatao directs and coordinates LSNC's major land use and housing advocacy in its 23 county service area. She is also currently on the leadership team of LSNC's Racial Equity Project. Ms. Tawatao was part of the litigation team in Kenneth Arms, et al. v. Martinez filed in federal court in 2001, which resulted in the preservation of 351 affordable units for 30 years in four developments in Sacramento County occupied primarily by persons with disabilities, seniors and Russian speaking families. In 2002, Ms. Tawatao led the litigation in ACORN v. Kawamoto, which resulted in an injunction and settlement agreement that kept over 400 Sacramento and Placer County families from being simultaneously evicted from their rental homes and contributed to the passage of California's 60-day notice law. Prior to joining LSNC, Ms. Tawatao worked for nine years at San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) as a staff attorney and directing attorney where she focused on affordable housing development, tenant's rights and land use cases and school finance cases. From 1998 to 1990, she clerked for the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Ms. Tawatao graduated from UCLA School of Law in 1986. Ms. Tawatao received a 2005 Legal Aid Association of California Award of Merit and a California Reinvestment Coalition CRA Panther Award with her colleague, Valerie Feldman, in 2006. |
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Paul Zimmerman Paul is a native of Los Angeles. Motivated by a life-long interest in social change, economic equity and the built environment, he has worked in the non-profit sector throughout most of his professional career. From 1988 to 2006, Paul was the executive director of the West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, developing and managing senior, disabled and family subsidized apartments. In April 2006, he assumed the responsibilities of executive director of the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH). Paul has served as SCANPH's Board president and on numerous boards of directors and working groups concerned with affordable housing and urban planning issues. He is married to a psychotherapist and houses a 19 year-old son. |
