Four longtime leaders were inducted into the Affordable Housing Hall of Fame at the AHF Live conference in Chicago.
Developers Tom Collishaw, president and CEO of Self-Help Enterprises, and Linda Mandolini, president and CEO of Eden Housing, were recognized for their work building affordable homes in California and their contributions to the larger industry.
Jeff Whiting, founder and executive chairman of CREA, was inducted for his lasting impact, including helping raise $12.6 billion in equity for affordable housing, resulting in creation of more than 90,00 affordable homes across the country.
David Gasson, partner and co-founder of MG Housing Strategies and executive director of the Housing Advisory Group, has been a longtime affordable housing advocate, championing the growth of the low-income housing tax credit program, including this year’s historic expansion that is estimated to support an additional 1.22 million rental homes the next 10 years.
“I accept this recognition on behalf of the organization I love—Self-Help Enterprises. We started as an organization dedicated to homeownership, mostly for farmworkers and their families by pioneering a unique sweat equity program. That foundation of opportunity, hard work, collaboration, and asset building has informed our work ever since. … When we do homeownership with people of color, it’s not just providing an opportunity to break the cycle of family poverty, it is racial justice. … I would urge all of us to take responsibility beyond our business. As an organization that houses and creates opportunities for people who were not born in the United States, it is incumbent upon us to make clear that character does not derive from geography or income level and that all humans in the most affluent country that the world has ever seen have dignity and deserve our respect and attention.”—Tom Collishaw
“I am really, really grateful for the team at Eden Housing. I would not stand here before you but for the work of 560 people who get up every day and are committed to one thing—creating a place for people to live in the most expensive state in the country. They work so hard, and I feel this is an award for them because it recognizes what we do together. … Whether you are an architect designing a property, a planner planning for that property, a city council member voting yes, a young developer doing all the paperwork for an older developer, whatever your job is in this industry, you are carrying out that work and making it possible for people to have a place to live. … We are so blessed to be in an industry where we can change the world one corner at a time for so many people who need a place to live.”—Linda Mandolini
“I’m honored to be in a Hall that include names such Herb Collins, David Reznick, Chuck Edson, Ronne Thielen, Mike Novogradac, Bob Moss—all of them mentors and leaders in what they do. I just try to follow in their footsteps and do what they would do, which is the right thing. … I’m grateful to my wife, my family. They’ve seen the highs and lows over 25 years or so of CREA. I’m also very thankful for the team at CREA.”—Jeff Whiting
“You all need to be advocates for this [LIHTC] program because nothing happens without advocating for what you and your firms do every single day. … I preach the gospel of affordable housing. When I do that it’s because I have two lines in mind. I don’t know if anyone has read President Kennedy’s inaugural address. The last two lines for me have always stuck in my head: ‘With a good conscious our only sure reward, with history a final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking his blessing and his help, but knowing that here on Earth, God’s work must truly be our own.’”—David Gasson