Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 113: Ali Solis, Managing Principal, Solis Strategic Solutions (S3)

Transcript

Episode 113: Ali Solis, Managing Principal, Solis Strategic Solutions (S3) · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

0:05
Speaker 1: This is change Makers with Katie Gore finding the right
0:09
Speaker 1: solutions for the affordable housing community.
0:13
Speaker 2: This week's change maker is Ali Solisee, the managing principle
0:17
Speaker 2: at Solely Strategic Solutions and a leading advocate for housing
0:21
Speaker 2: policy at the federal level. With over two decades of experience,
0:25
Speaker 2: Ali has shaped national housing policies and led initiatives that
0:29
Speaker 2: address the housing affordability crisis, including the creation of the
0:33
Speaker 2: Action Campaign and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Ali, Welcome to
0:38
Speaker 2: the podcast.
0:39
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for having me.
0:41
Speaker 2: It is great to have you here and I can't
0:42
Speaker 2: wait to talk about your journey because you have a
0:45
Speaker 2: wide diverse range of impact, everything from advocacy to policy
0:51
Speaker 2: to private sector. So why don't you start us off
0:54
Speaker 2: and tell us from the beginning what inspired your passion
0:58
Speaker 2: for affordable housing? How did you get started?
1:01
Speaker 3: You know, my journey wasn't very linear. I started in
1:05
Speaker 3: the private sector working on a number of non housing
1:10
Speaker 3: related issues and met actually the CFO of what became
1:17
Speaker 3: my first sort of career, my first job with in
1:21
Speaker 3: the housing industry at a quasi public agency called then
1:25
Speaker 3: Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, and that you know, we met, interestingly
1:30
Speaker 3: enough at a bootcam class, at an exercise class, and anyway,
1:35
Speaker 3: it's one of those opportunities that came to me kind
1:37
Speaker 3: of fell in my lap. But I had always had
1:39
Speaker 3: a strong passion for communities and working with small businesses.
1:45
Speaker 3: I had sold insurance actually earlier in my career to
1:51
Speaker 3: small business mom and pop owners in the Adams Morgan
1:54
Speaker 3: area of Washington, d C. And so, and that was
1:56
Speaker 3: sort of healthcare and disability plans. So I learned that
1:59
Speaker 3: there was this entire housing and community development sector that
2:03
Speaker 3: was serving in that case, low income Latina families, and
2:07
Speaker 3: that's you know, sort of I was interested in that work,
2:10
Speaker 3: but never thought about it as a career. So so anyway,
2:13
Speaker 3: that was my first entryway was was meeting Roy on
2:17
Speaker 3: the jogging trail and him telling me that they were
2:20
Speaker 3: looking for somebody to lead their legislative affairs department.
2:24
Speaker 2: When you first got started, could you have ever imagined
2:28
Speaker 2: where this would take you and it was the impact
2:31
Speaker 2: that you would have or did you just kind of say,
2:34
Speaker 2: have a moment of enlightenment to say, aha, I see
2:37
Speaker 2: this where this is going? Which path were you on?
2:41
Speaker 3: Yeah? You know, it's interesting, it's really one of the
2:44
Speaker 3: most cherishing, you know, aspects of my career working in
2:48
Speaker 3: this industry has been the people, right and the people
2:53
Speaker 3: that I've met along the way. And when you are
2:55
Speaker 3: working in community development and working within communities, the impact
3:00
Speaker 3: that you have, or at least that I had, was
3:02
Speaker 3: really fueled by meeting people who not only were struggling
3:07
Speaker 3: with you know, housing, affordability and many other economic challenges,
3:12
Speaker 3: but then also seeing what the work that you know,
3:15
Speaker 3: many of us that work in this field do every day,
3:18
Speaker 3: you know, the changes that can happen, the impact in
3:21
Speaker 3: people's lives, and that really has fueled my desire. You know,
3:26
Speaker 3: at the heart of hearts, I'm a sort of problem solver.
3:29
Speaker 3: I like to, you know, think of myself as someone
3:31
Speaker 3: that is a collaborator and a problem solver. And you know,
3:35
Speaker 3: in many of these cases, the solutions were sort of
3:38
Speaker 3: laid out, but these communities and these families didn't have
3:43
Speaker 3: a voice, and so my job was to figure out
3:45
Speaker 3: how to how to bring to light some of the challenges,
3:49
Speaker 3: the inequities that we were facing and develop some public
3:52
Speaker 3: private partnership models that could be scaled and solved. So no,
3:56
Speaker 3: I didn't have a path. But when I think back
3:58
Speaker 3: about the most rewarding aspect of this career and the
4:02
Speaker 3: work that I do every day, it's always fueled by
4:04
Speaker 3: a story by a person who touched my life. And
4:09
Speaker 3: that's what makes this job and this work so fulfilling.
4:13
Speaker 2: Tell us about the mission and some of the goals
4:15
Speaker 2: of what you're doing now with solely strategic solutions. How
4:20
Speaker 2: is the systemic change or how is your platform? What
4:25
Speaker 2: are you wanting to accomplish and what are you doing there?
4:28
Speaker 3: Well, thanks for asking that, you know it's a mouthful, actually,
4:31
Speaker 3: but so we call ourselves as three advisory services. But
4:36
Speaker 3: the work that we do is again really fueled by
4:39
Speaker 3: the needs of our clients, and I have the distinct
4:43
Speaker 3: donor of representing a number of Really, if you think
4:46
Speaker 3: about all of the ecosystem that makes up the housing
4:49
Speaker 3: and community community development finance system, are my clients are
4:53
Speaker 3: represented there? So, whether you are a nonprofit developer of
4:57
Speaker 3: affordable housing or a an investor who is you know,
5:02
Speaker 3: investing in affordable housing, or a CDFI a community development
5:07
Speaker 3: financial institution that is providing capital that otherwise wouldn't be
5:11
Speaker 3: available to support housing development, and you know, expansion of
5:16
Speaker 3: community development facilities. I have the you know, great pleasure
5:20
Speaker 3: of working with a variety of clients that really represent
5:24
Speaker 3: the multifaceted ecosystem that is the housing and community valu
5:29
Speaker 3: and finance system that that underscores all the work we do.
5:32
Speaker 3: And so, you know, that's that part I think has
5:36
Speaker 3: really fueled my interest in, you know, being able to
5:41
Speaker 3: attack what I see as a you know, critical national
5:44
Speaker 3: crisis that is the lack of sufficient affordable housing supply
5:47
Speaker 3: in our country and get to work with some of
5:50
Speaker 3: the you know, meeting all stars in this space and
5:55
Speaker 3: call them clients and friends.
5:56
Speaker 2: How do you help them navigate a legislative environment that
6:01
Speaker 2: is changing every you know, two point seventy five or
6:04
Speaker 2: three years. What is the way that you try to
6:08
Speaker 2: engage your clients with that changing environment. It's part of
6:13
Speaker 2: our structure. But we seem to have a lot of
6:17
Speaker 2: support in the recognition that we now need affordable housing.
6:21
Speaker 2: So that didn't used to be the case. So walk
6:24
Speaker 2: us through how you're supporting clients in that domain.
6:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, it's an interesting time that we're in for sure,
6:29
Speaker 3: But you know the only thing that we can count
6:31
Speaker 3: on is change, right, We live in a changing world,
6:35
Speaker 3: And you're right. You know, when I think about starting
6:38
Speaker 3: this journey over thirty years ago, you know, most of
6:41
Speaker 3: my job was in educating cheap policymakers about the need
6:46
Speaker 3: to really make the national or put the national housing crisis,
6:50
Speaker 3: which has long standing been an issue for our country,
6:53
Speaker 3: but really get the national attention it really needed. And
6:57
Speaker 3: actually before launching the you know, the Advisory Services practice,
7:02
Speaker 3: I led a national public awareness campaign on renters needs
7:05
Speaker 3: and got to see firsthand, you know, the challenges that
7:08
Speaker 3: we were facing, both from consumers not understanding the you know,
7:13
Speaker 3: the complex nature of the housing crisis, as well as
7:16
Speaker 3: policy makers at all levels of government. But you're right
7:19
Speaker 3: today that where you know, I'm not sure whether this
7:22
Speaker 3: is a good thing, but the challenges have become so
7:26
Speaker 3: stark and so clear that we no longer have to
7:29
Speaker 3: spend as much time educating, you know folks that we
7:31
Speaker 3: have a problem. Now people are aware that we have
7:34
Speaker 3: a problem. You know, for most of us nerdy housing folks,
7:38
Speaker 3: I was jumping out of my seat. I'll just talk
7:39
Speaker 3: about myself, you know, to see housing being talked about
7:42
Speaker 3: on national stages and you know, to hear it be
7:46
Speaker 3: prime and center, not just of the presidential debates, but
7:49
Speaker 3: also the vice president's debates that we saw, and so indeed,
7:53
Speaker 3: we are in a unique time in that people are
7:57
Speaker 3: starting to see this issue. And you know, for years,
8:00
Speaker 3: you know, local government, local mayors and county officials who
8:05
Speaker 3: are generally on the front lines of these things have
8:07
Speaker 3: you know, been uh finding solutions and really raising their voices.
8:12
Speaker 3: And now we're starting to see the need to do
8:13
Speaker 3: that much more stridently at the at the federal level
8:17
Speaker 3: as well. And so I'm I'm thrilled to see that.
8:20
Speaker 3: I think the ways that we help support our clients
8:24
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, you know, most housing
8:28
Speaker 3: in real estate, as politics, are all very hyper local,
8:31
Speaker 3: and so it is both identifying solutions and best practices
8:36
Speaker 3: that are happening in communities that are on the frontlines
8:39
Speaker 3: of these issues and of these issues, and then you know,
8:42
Speaker 3: finding ways to create those models that can be really
8:45
Speaker 3: scaled and then bringing them to Washington to educate you know,
8:49
Speaker 3: federal policy and leaders as partners and how we sort
8:52
Speaker 3: of attack this problem at a national level and at
8:55
Speaker 3: the scale that is necessary to solve the problem. So
8:58
Speaker 3: we we tend to be the sort of eyes and
9:01
Speaker 3: ears for most of our clients that are usually not
9:05
Speaker 3: you know, physically here in Washington, d C. Which is
9:07
Speaker 3: where I spend most of my time. But our job
9:10
Speaker 3: is to really bring in those stories of those families
9:14
Speaker 3: that I first talked about at the beginning of our
9:16
Speaker 3: chat here. Uh And and the other thing we really
9:19
Speaker 3: try to do is get people out of Washington. You know,
9:21
Speaker 3: it is impossible to understand the complexities of the housing
9:25
Speaker 3: crisis if you're sitting behind a desk in DC. We've
9:28
Speaker 3: got to get out to these communities because while the
9:31
Speaker 3: national housing crisis is impacting you know, rural communities, small towns,
9:35
Speaker 3: large urban cities, the solutions are are different because communities
9:40
Speaker 3: are different and their needs are different. And so that's
9:42
Speaker 3: another thing we try to do, which is to you know,
9:44
Speaker 3: support local tours and educational events and town halls and
9:49
Speaker 3: those kinds of convenings where people can go back to
9:53
Speaker 3: their districts, to their states and learn directly from those
9:56
Speaker 3: folks that are solving the problem and understand the role
9:59
Speaker 3: that they can playing and supporting some of those solutions.
10:02
Speaker 2: You mentioned stories. Can you tell us a success story
10:05
Speaker 2: from your work at S three that really illustrates the
10:09
Speaker 2: impact here. I love to see a ribbon cutting, but
10:13
Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears
10:15
Speaker 2: behind people showing up for that ribbon cutting, which I'm
10:18
Speaker 2: sure at one point they weren't even sure if they
10:20
Speaker 2: were going to get to that shovel moment or that ribbon.
10:24
Speaker 3: But do you have.
10:25
Speaker 2: Something that's a success story even from you know, maybe
10:29
Speaker 2: a personal impact or a community win that you can
10:34
Speaker 2: share with us?
10:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, so many, I mean, but I'll you know, I'll
10:38
Speaker 3: think about something that's sort of recent in the last
10:42
Speaker 3: two years and work that I really hadn't much experience in.
10:46
Speaker 3: One of the things that's wonderful about getting the chance
10:49
Speaker 3: to work with a variety of clients is I get
10:50
Speaker 3: to learn about issues, and I see myself as a
10:54
Speaker 3: lifelong learner. And one of those issues has been the
10:56
Speaker 3: challenges with manufactured housing in communities. What what some coins,
11:02
Speaker 3: you know, we used to call them sort of trailer parks,
11:05
Speaker 3: and we you know what they are for working families
11:09
Speaker 3: across those countries, an ability to have affordable home ownership
11:13
Speaker 3: and long term you know, housing needs. And for decades
11:16
Speaker 3: and decades, most of these communities have been disinvested in
11:22
Speaker 3: or you know, not really have to sort of fallen
11:25
Speaker 3: between not quite what we would think about as hell ownership,
11:29
Speaker 3: but you know also not you know, traditional multi family apartments.
11:34
Speaker 3: And so I am the opportunity to work with a
11:38
Speaker 3: group of uh well, it's a national CDFI that that
11:41
Speaker 3: provides financing for for residents that live in manufactured housing
11:47
Speaker 3: communities across the country, and they were facing just huge
11:52
Speaker 3: amounts of infrastructure failing infrastructure, major safety and wellness uh
11:57
Speaker 3: issues and challenges, and so we set out in a
12:00
Speaker 3: and a campaign to really educate federal policy makers about
12:03
Speaker 3: the needs there. This was when the infrastructure legislation was
12:07
Speaker 3: being formalized in Congress and when it was becoming clear
12:10
Speaker 3: that housing was not likely to receive any funding from
12:14
Speaker 3: that major and so we you know, we went back
12:19
Speaker 3: to sort of simple tax, which is just to get
12:22
Speaker 3: We launched a campaign with a number of these manufactured
12:25
Speaker 3: housing communities about just educating their members of Congress about
12:28
Speaker 3: their challenges and took folks out. We had a community
12:32
Speaker 3: in Maine in particular that comes to mind where Senator
12:36
Speaker 3: Columns is from, and she's a leading member of a
12:40
Speaker 3: Republican member and the Appropriations Committee in care seeply about
12:43
Speaker 3: housing related issues. And in this one particular community of homeowners,
12:46
Speaker 3: you know, they had such a failing sewage system that
12:51
Speaker 3: they were having to truck out the sewage in a
12:54
Speaker 3: privately owned truck. Yeah, you know, and this is I'll
12:58
Speaker 3: try to keep it without any visuals, but you can
13:01
Speaker 3: just imagine what that must be like to not know
13:03
Speaker 3: that you have safe sewage systems in the community that
13:06
Speaker 3: you're living in. And so we went and did a
13:10
Speaker 3: tour of that community, and you know, there's significant health
13:14
Speaker 3: and safety risks not only of those homeowners, but should
13:17
Speaker 3: one of those you know, systems that were sort of
13:20
Speaker 3: uh glued together with some band aids here fail, they
13:24
Speaker 3: were also backing up against one of their major natural waterways,
13:30
Speaker 3: and so you know, it potentially had a you know,
13:33
Speaker 3: sort of much bigger, significant risk to the larger community.
13:37
Speaker 3: And and so we worked with amazing leaders like Senator
13:40
Speaker 3: Collins and Sanga Murray and others who are on the
13:44
Speaker 3: Appropriations Committee, led by a collegemen from from North Carolina
13:49
Speaker 3: who was hence retired Collegeman Price, to create a new
13:54
Speaker 3: program which actually was named after the formal college from
13:57
Speaker 3: college from Price. But it is a a program, a
14:01
Speaker 3: new program that's been stood up at HUD two hundred
14:04
Speaker 3: and fifty million dollar program to help support the infrastructure,
14:08
Speaker 3: the sustainability and the preservation of these communities which are
14:13
Speaker 3: home to you know, thousands and thousands of homeowners across
14:17
Speaker 3: the country. And so actually the first round of funding
14:21
Speaker 3: is due out any day. Hopefully by the time this
14:24
Speaker 3: great podcast airs will have gotten a news alert and
14:28
Speaker 3: maybe we'll have one of those ribbon cuttings that you reference.
14:31
Speaker 3: But that was just an incredible experience. We did a
14:35
Speaker 3: sort of five day you know, marathon tour, taking members
14:39
Speaker 3: of Congress and their staff out to the communities, these
14:42
Speaker 3: resident owned communities and part of so in addition to
14:45
Speaker 3: sort of getting funding to deal with the infrastructure, what's
14:47
Speaker 3: really unique about this model is that Rock USA, which
14:53
Speaker 3: is my client, was able to help these residents learn
14:56
Speaker 3: how to become a co op and acquire their community
14:59
Speaker 3: and their land. Because the way these these this real
15:03
Speaker 3: estate differs from traditional real estate is that the homeowner
15:06
Speaker 3: owns their home they're a trailer, but the land underneath
15:11
Speaker 3: that is owned by investors. And so what they've been
15:13
Speaker 3: able to do is is, you know, a gaber capital
15:17
Speaker 3: and and help those homeowners actually own both the land
15:21
Speaker 3: and that allows them to have a lot more control
15:24
Speaker 3: over their futures or the futures of their community. And
15:27
Speaker 3: it's a really great story with just some amazing and
15:32
Speaker 3: my gosh, you want to talk about the best lobbyist
15:34
Speaker 3: in town that I've ever worked for, it's working with,
15:36
Speaker 3: you know, a seventy six year old retired school teacher
15:40
Speaker 3: who's adamant about why they, you know, need infrastructure improvements
15:43
Speaker 3: to their communities. And they're some of the easiest champions
15:49
Speaker 3: to bring up to Capitol Hill because they don't really
15:51
Speaker 3: understand politics and they don't really care about that. They
15:53
Speaker 3: just want some resources to preserve their homes and their communities.
15:58
Speaker 3: And so it's that's just one of many examples. I
16:01
Speaker 3: could go down the line to talk about the impact
16:04
Speaker 3: of the stories and the families that I've had a
16:07
Speaker 3: chance to meet doing this.
16:08
Speaker 2: For the mere fact that we're talking about manufactured housing
16:12
Speaker 2: as being one of the solutions to help close this
16:14
Speaker 2: affordability gap is a significant moment and it's a symbol
16:19
Speaker 2: that we have progressed in our thoughts, in our policy,
16:22
Speaker 2: but we're definitely not there yet. I had a guest
16:26
Speaker 2: on previous podcast, Stacy Epperson, and she's on heads Manufactured
16:32
Speaker 2: Housing Council, which is amazing because you know the fact
16:36
Speaker 2: that even HUDD is now saying, hey, we have to
16:38
Speaker 2: have a council on this and bring this into the toolkit,
16:42
Speaker 2: if you will, of solving the housing crisis. But something
16:45
Speaker 2: that I learned from manufactured housing is that it's now
16:50
Speaker 2: being produced of course with higher quality, but faster energy
16:56
Speaker 2: star it has sustainability components and of course the affordability,
17:02
Speaker 2: but there's also density winds on land use. So like
17:06
Speaker 2: we're talking about a housing product that has multiple wins,
17:10
Speaker 2: not just affordability. And I like that you are bringing
17:15
Speaker 2: us an example here about up at Maine, because now
17:18
Speaker 2: you also see this infrastructure component and you're solving multiple
17:23
Speaker 2: things with manufactured housing.
17:25
Speaker 3: That's right. It's been a great journey just to understand
17:28
Speaker 3: those and to connect the dots, you know, to help HUD,
17:30
Speaker 3: for example, you mentioned HUD. They've been a tremendous partner
17:33
Speaker 3: and where you know, the next big hurdle is how
17:36
Speaker 3: do we get financing Because most of the financing it's
17:40
Speaker 3: for these manufactured homes is non traditional financing. So you know,
17:45
Speaker 3: you and I could go out and get a mortgage,
17:47
Speaker 3: a thirty year mortgage for our home. But just because
17:49
Speaker 3: these particular homes are built in a manufacturing site and
17:53
Speaker 3: not stick built, for example, they are not considered real
17:57
Speaker 3: estate in the same way that you know, a tradition,
18:00
Speaker 3: so the home might be and and therefore the financing
18:04
Speaker 3: that's available to these homeowners is it's it's like a
18:08
Speaker 3: car loan basically, they call it chattel financing. And so
18:11
Speaker 3: that's the next big effort we're trying to tackle, and
18:13
Speaker 3: we're working with the g c S and our partners
18:16
Speaker 3: of how did FHA to see if how we can
18:20
Speaker 3: sort of level the playing field for manufactured housing and
18:24
Speaker 3: try to create you know, new products that mirror what
18:27
Speaker 3: everybody else has right in terms of the ability to
18:30
Speaker 3: have an affordable mortgage product as well. So, so yes,
18:34
Speaker 3: it's there, and your point about you know, sustainability and
18:37
Speaker 3: challenges one of the major issues we see what we
18:41
Speaker 3: see it every day, right with natural disasters and bigger problems.
18:45
Speaker 3: It no longer coastal market issues. I live in a
18:49
Speaker 3: in a coastal community myself, and so you know, those
18:52
Speaker 3: things have been front and center for a long time,
18:54
Speaker 3: but now those those issues are hitting places like Ashville,
18:57
Speaker 3: North Carolina, and so the sustainable of the housing is
19:01
Speaker 3: something that's really important to the work that we're doing.
19:06
Speaker 3: And I think there are ways to solve from multiple
19:08
Speaker 3: issues at once. You mentioned infrastructure, housing, transportation. You know
19:12
Speaker 3: how we can be a connector for these issues that
19:15
Speaker 3: are interrelated, and frankly, the smarter we get about this stuff,
19:19
Speaker 3: the better use of public limited public dollars. You know,
19:23
Speaker 3: we can be better at leveraging things if we know
19:26
Speaker 3: how they connect and learn to be more efficient and
19:28
Speaker 3: effective at how we use these programs well.
19:32
Speaker 2: Changing up how the financing happens is one thing. The
19:36
Speaker 2: regulations are changing, the acceptance is changing. So it's just
19:40
Speaker 2: a mindset and a progression, isn't it.
19:42
Speaker 3: That's correct.
19:44
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the action campaign. I briefly mentioned it
19:48
Speaker 2: in your intro, but I'm so curious. I want to
19:51
Speaker 2: hear what you're doing with that and what do you
19:55
Speaker 2: see the future of maybe even low income housing text credit.
19:58
Speaker 2: Let's just open it up because there's a lot there.
20:01
Speaker 2: But first tell us about your involvement in that campaign.
20:05
Speaker 3: So the action campaigns, my goodness, I'm dating myself here,
20:09
Speaker 3: but it has been a broad based coalition of supporters
20:14
Speaker 3: of the locome housing tax credit that you mentioned, Kenyan,
20:17
Speaker 3: the housing credit as we try to refer to it,
20:19
Speaker 3: because it's a mouthful and as you know, we live
20:22
Speaker 3: in an industry that has so many acronyms it's hard
20:25
Speaker 3: to keep track of. But the housing credit is the
20:28
Speaker 3: most efficient and effective tool that we have to date
20:31
Speaker 3: the federal government has had to date to build affordable
20:34
Speaker 3: apartment homes. And it's one of those moments I think
20:37
Speaker 3: about my career about you know, sort of important moments
20:41
Speaker 3: that happen and lessons learned many of the sort of investors, developers,
20:49
Speaker 3: owners of loan and housing tax credit apartment units. At
20:51
Speaker 3: the time, we're all going to members of Congress with
20:55
Speaker 3: different asks and different priorities. And I remember getting all
21:00
Speaker 3: this is I was at Enterprise Community Partners as their
21:03
Speaker 3: head of external affairs for many years, and I remember
21:05
Speaker 3: getting a call from the Hill from the Tax Committee
21:07
Speaker 3: staffer saying, can you guys get your act together? We
21:11
Speaker 3: have too many This was when major tax reform was
21:13
Speaker 3: coming up, and said, you know, we can have thirty
21:17
Speaker 3: different proposals coming at us at once we need to
21:20
Speaker 3: you know, you need to unify as an industry. And
21:22
Speaker 3: it really was a pivotal time and sort of a
21:24
Speaker 3: call to action for those of us that were really
21:27
Speaker 3: working in the housing credit industry at the time to
21:30
Speaker 3: come up and to do just that, to develop a
21:33
Speaker 3: place where we could craft shared policies and you know,
21:36
Speaker 3: not might not agree on every single one as a
21:38
Speaker 3: broad based coalition, but we would at least be presenting
21:42
Speaker 3: with a unified voice our recommendations to Congress. And that
21:46
Speaker 3: really was the start of the coalition, and it was
21:49
Speaker 3: led at the time by Enterprise, where I was and
21:53
Speaker 3: the then head of the National Council of State Housing
21:56
Speaker 3: Finance Agencies. But really it represented and still does today national,
22:01
Speaker 3: local and regional organizations across the country that are working
22:05
Speaker 3: on the preservation and the expansion of the housing credit.
22:09
Speaker 3: And speaking of you know, programs that have long standing
22:14
Speaker 3: by you know, bipartisan support, the housing credit is definitely,
22:18
Speaker 3: i would say, top of the list of that in
22:20
Speaker 3: terms of bits of you know, effectiveness. And we're hoping
22:24
Speaker 3: finally with next year's major tax legislation, we'll we'll finally
22:28
Speaker 3: see passage of long standing and long supported legislation on
22:35
Speaker 3: the expansion of the housing credit.
22:37
Speaker 2: And it's interesting because that's not just a housing policy,
22:40
Speaker 2: that's an economic policy, and sometimes we lose sight of
22:44
Speaker 2: what this really can do as far as its effectiveness.
22:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent. I mean when you think about
22:52
Speaker 3: the job creations and the economic impact, and you know,
22:55
Speaker 3: for years economists have talked about how housing can really
22:59
Speaker 3: get us, you know, the economy back back in place,
23:03
Speaker 3: and we've seen that happen, and and so you know,
23:06
Speaker 3: we agree and fully support and think this is certainly
23:10
Speaker 3: one way to do that. You know, the expansion of
23:12
Speaker 3: the housing credit isn't the only thing that we need,
23:15
Speaker 3: but certainly a step in the right direction. And here's
23:18
Speaker 3: an example where you kind of scratch your head because
23:20
Speaker 3: we have had you know, I dare anybody to look
23:23
Speaker 3: at other legislation that has gotten such strong bipartisan support
23:27
Speaker 3: Congress after Congress, administration after administration. So this isn't just
23:31
Speaker 3: you know, a program that's been supported by a particular party.
23:35
Speaker 3: Really at its you know, since it's since its creation,
23:39
Speaker 3: has really had strong bipartisan support. We just need to
23:42
Speaker 3: get it done. So I'm hopeful to do that. We're
23:46
Speaker 3: certainly hopeful to see that happen. You know, it would
23:49
Speaker 3: be great to see that happen during the lame duck,
23:51
Speaker 3: but likely we won't be seeing major tax reform until
23:54
Speaker 3: next year.
23:55
Speaker 2: It yields results, and so that's something that everybody can
23:58
Speaker 2: get behind. Yes, absolutely, I want to switch it up here.
24:02
Speaker 2: I want to talk about you for a minute. You're
24:05
Speaker 2: so interested in the fact that you're the only person
24:07
Speaker 2: I've talked to that has actually appeared on the Steve
24:12
Speaker 2: Harvey Show and major platforms like Forbes. Let's talk about
24:17
Speaker 2: what you said and what that experience was like. Take
24:22
Speaker 2: either one of those, either the op deads that you've
24:25
Speaker 2: done or the your appearance.
24:27
Speaker 3: Well, my least favorite subject actually is to talk about me,
24:30
Speaker 3: so I'll talk about what was really meaningful about these.
24:34
Speaker 3: First of all, Steve Harvey is a freaking riot. If
24:36
Speaker 3: you haven't seen his many, you know, comedy moments, Being
24:42
Speaker 3: on his live show was a treat one that I
24:45
Speaker 3: won't forget. But you know, I was really there to
24:50
Speaker 3: represent We had started a campaign working with artists from
24:55
Speaker 3: around the country. This was when I was leading make Real,
24:57
Speaker 3: which was the national public awareness campaign, and it was
25:01
Speaker 3: you know, Steve at the time, they were doing a
25:04
Speaker 3: home for the holidays and trying to feature families that
25:09
Speaker 3: were struggling and kind of create partnerships. So we were
25:13
Speaker 3: able to partner with the developer in Chicago that helped
25:16
Speaker 3: a mom and her four little children be able to
25:20
Speaker 3: afford an apartment for a year. And that was you know,
25:23
Speaker 3: delivering the keys and you know, talking about why public
25:27
Speaker 3: private partnerships are so essential. So the the thing that
25:32
Speaker 3: was so exciting about being on that show was that
25:35
Speaker 3: we were able to really get national awareness and attention
25:38
Speaker 3: to me and to me when I think about those
25:42
Speaker 3: you know, moments that have been sort of the things
25:44
Speaker 3: that you put on your resume or that you see
25:46
Speaker 3: at the bottom of a bio, what's meaningful to me
25:49
Speaker 3: was seeing this, you know, the smile on those little
25:51
Speaker 3: kids' face, like I think it was five or six
25:54
Speaker 3: kids under the age of six, right, you know, to
25:57
Speaker 3: have them sit on Steve Harvey's lap while talked about,
26:00
Speaker 3: you know, uh, how excited they were to have their
26:03
Speaker 3: own womb the first time in their entire lives. They
26:05
Speaker 3: weren't all going to have to sleep in the same bed.
26:07
Speaker 3: And those, you know, those touching moments are really what
26:11
Speaker 3: inspires me and gives me purpose and hope. So, uh
26:17
Speaker 3: that was that was a really fun day and uh yeah,
26:21
Speaker 3: one that I won't that I won't forget. But really again,
26:24
Speaker 3: the purpose was, you know, those kinds of stories, and
26:26
Speaker 3: I wish we would have you know, more of those
26:29
Speaker 3: national celebrities using their bully pulpit their platforms to talk
26:35
Speaker 3: about the impact that hoos can have on people's lives.
26:40
Speaker 3: And so, you know, I think I think we've got
26:42
Speaker 3: a lot of champions that have been stepping up, whether
26:44
Speaker 3: it's to this election cycle or other ways, to to
26:47
Speaker 3: use those voice. And by the way, many of them
26:49
Speaker 3: have experienced housing instability and and so part of what
26:54
Speaker 3: we're trying, you know, we tried to do it make room,
26:56
Speaker 3: was to create partnerships with celebrities and artists and others
27:00
Speaker 3: who you know, had real life experience in dealing with
27:03
Speaker 3: housing instability and use their platforms to help raise awareness
27:08
Speaker 3: around the issue with others. So that was those were
27:10
Speaker 3: really exciting, fun times for sure.
27:14
Speaker 2: What an honor to be able to elevate the voices
27:17
Speaker 2: of people who are struggling with rent and struggling with
27:20
Speaker 2: housing instability, and you make a great point about storytelling,
27:25
Speaker 2: because it's such a way to be able to change
27:28
Speaker 2: the perception of who needs housing? Why do they need it? Well,
27:33
Speaker 2: let's set that aside and let's figure out how to
27:35
Speaker 2: solve that. And what a great job of bringing some
27:39
Speaker 2: public awareness to this.
27:40
Speaker 3: Thank you.
27:41
Speaker 2: Do people ask you about the Steve Harvey Show still
27:45
Speaker 2: today or was that just a moment?
27:49
Speaker 3: Does it?
27:50
Speaker 2: Do people come up to you and still talk about that?
27:53
Speaker 3: It's funny, you know, it's like, yeah, my my girlfriends
27:56
Speaker 3: that keep it real will say to me, why did
27:58
Speaker 3: you wear that shirt? Or you know, yeast But sadly
28:02
Speaker 3: we live in, you know, a period of sound bites,
28:05
Speaker 3: so I'm not sure it's it's probably as memorial to
28:10
Speaker 3: me as it was to me to many others. But uh,
28:14
Speaker 3: but yeah, the good news about me is I have
28:16
Speaker 3: a tribe of people that keep me humble, so you know,
28:18
Speaker 3: they wanted to talk about, you know, my wardrobe choices.
28:24
Speaker 2: Well, keeping on the theme of talking about you, when
28:27
Speaker 2: you were at make Room you just mentioned this earlier.
28:31
Speaker 2: What what was your takeaway, like, just personally professionally reflect
28:36
Speaker 2: on your time there.
28:38
Speaker 3: Wow, you know it was we were a startup organization
28:41
Speaker 3: really supported initially to the work of Enterprise Community Partners
28:45
Speaker 3: and many others foundations and donors who saw the need
28:51
Speaker 3: to raise the issue of renters in this country and
28:56
Speaker 3: the affordability crisis we were facing. And there there hadn't
29:00
Speaker 3: really been a playbook for this. Lots of other successful
29:02
Speaker 3: local campaigns, but there really hadn't been one that with
29:07
Speaker 3: a vision that we had, which was to really bring
29:09
Speaker 3: national attention and and to do a part of the storytelling.
29:12
Speaker 3: We benefited from some just fantastic volunteers and others that
29:18
Speaker 3: had really spurred the online advocacy movement. We we there
29:24
Speaker 3: had been some other campaigns that had really been successful
29:27
Speaker 3: around hunger in this country, and and so we we
29:30
Speaker 3: tried to really learn sort of what worked and and
29:34
Speaker 3: and partner with others around that. But the the journey
29:38
Speaker 3: we ultimately, you know, worked to create a platform where
29:43
Speaker 3: real people, you know, consumers could uh sort of share
29:48
Speaker 3: their stories and learn how to use their voice to
29:52
Speaker 3: advocate for local and federal legislation. So it ultimately was
29:56
Speaker 3: a digital platform, but the process in getting folks to
30:02
Speaker 3: engage with our platform was all about partnerships and uh,
30:06
Speaker 3: you know, we we just were so uh you know,
30:12
Speaker 3: just all the stars aligned, frankly in terms of getting
30:16
Speaker 3: people who were willing to share their time and their resources.
30:20
Speaker 3: We partnered with some you know, I mentioned some of
30:24
Speaker 3: these musicians along the way, people like Miguel and Carlie
30:28
Speaker 3: Ray Jebson and you know, sort of famous UH singers
30:33
Speaker 3: and other artists who had experienced housing and stability. We
30:37
Speaker 3: we did We did concerts for families in their living rooms.
30:41
Speaker 3: We did living room concerts, and then we aired them
30:43
Speaker 3: locally and involved local policy makers. So there was a
30:47
Speaker 3: lot of activations that were super fun, right and by
30:51
Speaker 3: the way, that's one of the lessons learned, you know,
30:53
Speaker 3: working for something you're passionate about and caring about, you know,
30:57
Speaker 3: in order to do the work we do, you got
30:59
Speaker 3: to have some fun. You got to you know, find
31:02
Speaker 3: ways because it's it's tough, right, not not every day,
31:06
Speaker 3: it is a good one and sometimes policy wins and
31:11
Speaker 3: changes can take decades. And so that's one of the
31:14
Speaker 3: lessons in the takeaways I learned is h is having
31:18
Speaker 3: is having fun, and we were able to really do
31:20
Speaker 3: that and bring some real awareness and attention raising through
31:24
Speaker 3: national press and media attention. The other thing we did
31:26
Speaker 3: was realize, you know, the power of the media. We
31:29
Speaker 3: did journalism study tours where we took journalists all around
31:32
Speaker 3: the country with us to understand when they were reporting
31:36
Speaker 3: on the latest joint Harvard Center on Housing report that
31:40
Speaker 3: these you know, what was behind these us. So this
31:43
Speaker 3: is where the storytelling really comes back into play as well.
31:46
Speaker 3: We you know, help them understand the complexities of doing
31:50
Speaker 3: mixed income affordable housing development and how the alphabet of
31:54
Speaker 3: soup of all the housing related programs work, and why
31:58
Speaker 3: public private partnership are so essential to ensuring that we
32:02
Speaker 3: can really leverage public dollars. And so it was really
32:05
Speaker 3: a combination of these you know, artists and influencers that
32:10
Speaker 3: came together with some you know education of journalists who
32:15
Speaker 3: had their own ability to really influence how people and
32:20
Speaker 3: policymakers in particular because that was our audience really thought
32:23
Speaker 3: about this issue and to get better educated on solutions
32:27
Speaker 3: on the ground that this is a problem that is solvable.
32:30
Speaker 3: We didn't have to wait for the next best, you know,
32:34
Speaker 3: pot of funding that was going to come our legislation.
32:36
Speaker 3: We needed all those things, but we what we needed
32:38
Speaker 3: most was for people to care and to make this
32:42
Speaker 3: a national housing priority, like we're finally seeing in the
32:45
Speaker 3: selection and so that's some of the things that I
32:49
Speaker 3: remember most fondly of that work. And ultimately we you know,
32:53
Speaker 3: we helped use the power of our online platform to
32:57
Speaker 3: get behind specific pieces of lefe legislation and different states
33:01
Speaker 3: and communities, and it was a great, great experience. I'm
33:05
Speaker 3: really proud of the what we were able to do
33:08
Speaker 3: in a few short years.
33:10
Speaker 2: So we talked about your early ramps and this last role.
33:14
Speaker 2: So let's now switch to future vision casting. If you
33:19
Speaker 2: could give some advice to emerging leaders or other advocates,
33:24
Speaker 2: maybe especially those who are underrepresented, what would you start
33:29
Speaker 2: to lay out as a path to people who really
33:32
Speaker 2: want to make an impact. You've kind of been there
33:34
Speaker 2: and done that and keep and are still doing that.
33:37
Speaker 2: What would you say to specific groups of people?
33:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, Katie, what I'm hearing you say is that
33:44
Speaker 3: I'm old, right.
33:46
Speaker 2: You know, when somebody asked me the other day about legacy,
33:49
Speaker 2: I went, wait a minute, are we at that point
33:51
Speaker 2: in the conversation.
33:53
Speaker 3: When I first started my career, I was in women
33:55
Speaker 3: in housing finance. I remember George Knight, who was the
33:58
Speaker 3: executive director at Able Free Investment the time said you know,
34:02
Speaker 3: if you want to go learn from you know, smart
34:04
Speaker 3: people that represent the entire sort of housing and finance systems,
34:08
Speaker 3: you know, go be part of this professional organization women.
34:13
Speaker 3: Well we're now women and men at WHF. And but
34:17
Speaker 3: I remember at going to some of those very first
34:20
Speaker 3: meetings and being you know, this young person I was
34:24
Speaker 3: in my late twenties, early thirties, and and you know,
34:29
Speaker 3: being so intimidated by these powerful women and also sort
34:33
Speaker 3: of starstruck. And and but they gave me hope and
34:39
Speaker 3: vision that you know, you know, working together and that
34:42
Speaker 3: there was a group that of other women frankly in
34:45
Speaker 3: the housing finance system because there were many of us
34:48
Speaker 3: at that time. That's certain changing not just women, but
34:51
Speaker 3: people of color really as you know, change makers. That's
34:54
Speaker 3: the topic of this famulous podcast, which is what I love.
34:58
Speaker 3: They gave me hope that every one of us could
35:00
Speaker 3: be a change maker. And you know, they taught me
35:03
Speaker 3: the importance of you know, not waiting for a mentor
35:07
Speaker 3: but asking somebody you know, being really admire to help
35:10
Speaker 3: support you. And I did that early on in my career,
35:13
Speaker 3: and I tried to do that now for others. And
35:16
Speaker 3: so when I think about, you know, the future. I
35:20
Speaker 3: read actually Friday night, my good friend Stockton Williams, who's
35:23
Speaker 3: the head of the National Council of State House with
35:25
Speaker 3: Finance Agencies, in his you know, weekly address to his members,
35:31
Speaker 3: wrote a letter to the future president and it's a
35:34
Speaker 3: dear blank and it was dated you know, next year,
35:38
Speaker 3: January twenty or twenty six, so a year from January.
35:41
Speaker 3: And it basically was a thank you letter for all
35:44
Speaker 3: of the things that the president and the administration had
35:47
Speaker 3: done in addressing the housing crisis. And it really was
35:49
Speaker 3: thought provoking. I was thinking about it. I like things
35:53
Speaker 3: that sort of make me think, right, and that was
35:54
Speaker 3: one that made me think. And so when I think
35:56
Speaker 3: about the future of where we're going, and I now
36:01
Speaker 3: go back to events at WHF and see all of
36:03
Speaker 3: these young lawyers. You know, you don't have to be
36:07
Speaker 3: an advocate or a government affairs person to have a role.
36:10
Speaker 3: The people that are you know, in accounting departments, within
36:13
Speaker 3: the housing finances, smilar communications departments, all of us have
36:17
Speaker 3: a role that we are playing to help address this crisis.
36:20
Speaker 3: And I encourage I'm currently the president of the National
36:24
Speaker 3: Housing Conference at NHC. We're a big you know, umbrella
36:28
Speaker 3: organization that represents all of the you know, organizations that
36:32
Speaker 3: touch housing, whether you're you know, the National Association of
36:35
Speaker 3: home Builders or the National Alliance to End Homelessness or
36:38
Speaker 3: all members of our groups. And one of the things
36:40
Speaker 3: that we've been really encouraging is, you know, the establishment
36:43
Speaker 3: of committees, so it's not just the c suite or
36:46
Speaker 3: the senior executive folks from your organizations getting involved in
36:49
Speaker 3: these associations. We need new young not just the new
36:54
Speaker 3: young blood, which is what I say, but like sort
36:56
Speaker 3: of the innovation of the next generation of leaders to
36:59
Speaker 3: be getting in game ah now and bringing their talents
37:02
Speaker 3: whatever they are. If you're a communications person, if you
37:05
Speaker 3: are someone that understands finance and accounting, you know the
37:10
Speaker 3: complexities of the work that we have to do on
37:12
Speaker 3: the ground, actually the deals and how they get put together.
37:15
Speaker 3: You know, we need those kind of folks engaging with
37:18
Speaker 3: associations and advocates and others as well. And so to me,
37:22
Speaker 3: it's like, you know, if you're someone who's working in
37:25
Speaker 3: this industry and you're not quite sure you know where
37:28
Speaker 3: you can have impact, you know, get involved in a
37:31
Speaker 3: local community, I volunteer, I serve on local boards wherever
37:36
Speaker 3: I am currently involved in the I live on the
37:39
Speaker 3: Eastern Shore and so we've got a fabulous shelter local
37:44
Speaker 3: shelter here that is helping people transition from homelessness into
37:48
Speaker 3: permanent supportive housing. And so to me, when I need
37:51
Speaker 3: to fill my cup, that's what I do. I go,
37:52
Speaker 3: you know, volunteer with the Talbot team in East and Maryland.
37:56
Speaker 3: But you know, wherever your community is again, and you know,
37:59
Speaker 3: there's ways to get involved locally and then to use
38:01
Speaker 3: your voice and your platform for the future. And I
38:04
Speaker 3: think we've already seen some of the innovation that's happening
38:08
Speaker 3: with technology or the way that we're building things. We
38:11
Speaker 3: talked about manufactured housing. I think, you know, bringing that
38:15
Speaker 3: kind of ingenuity, and I just was at an investor
38:18
Speaker 3: conference sponsored by one of my clients, Predium, and they're
38:23
Speaker 3: really innovating around real estate, but you know, they have
38:26
Speaker 3: been for years, but they're also trying to think about
38:29
Speaker 3: their impact in communities. And they are in the process
38:32
Speaker 3: of creating a fund where though they are going to
38:34
Speaker 3: you know, investing in single family homes to provide more
38:37
Speaker 3: options for families that may not be interested in home
38:40
Speaker 3: ownership or maybe on a different path, or may ultimately
38:44
Speaker 3: want to become homeowners but want to live in a
38:46
Speaker 3: community of opportunities. So, you know, every one of us
38:49
Speaker 3: can play our role in helping to address the housing
38:53
Speaker 3: challenges that we face, because you know, we need a
38:57
Speaker 3: We need homes that are going to meet people at
38:59
Speaker 3: every stage of their life, whether they are you know,
39:02
Speaker 3: aging parents like my own who are living in a
39:04
Speaker 3: five bedroom house that they don't need to be living in,
39:07
Speaker 3: but you know, can't afford to move anywhere else, or
39:10
Speaker 3: you know, a twenty seven year old like my daughter
39:12
Speaker 3: living in San Francisco, the last thing on her mind
39:14
Speaker 3: is her ownership, that she wants to live in a
39:17
Speaker 3: you know, affordable community. And so how are we ensuring
39:21
Speaker 3: that we have a home regardless of where you are
39:24
Speaker 3: on your you know, on your journey or individual journey,
39:27
Speaker 3: that is affordable, you know, attainable and available uh to
39:32
Speaker 3: meet people along that pathway. And and to me, I
39:35
Speaker 3: think there's you know a lot of really great innovation
39:39
Speaker 3: that's happening within communities, and we need to be tapping
39:43
Speaker 3: into our networks and inviting others in. If you're in
39:46
Speaker 3: the healthcare world, you should care about housing because the
39:48
Speaker 3: two are so interrelated. If you care about transportation, let's
39:53
Speaker 3: or climate, let's you know, think about ways to make
39:55
Speaker 3: our homes more sustainable. If you're someone that cares about energy,
39:59
Speaker 3: you know, we're we have all of these resources that
40:01
Speaker 3: are now you know, through some of the major legislation
40:05
Speaker 3: from last year are coming to be Let's make sure
40:07
Speaker 3: that those projects we are doing them in the most
40:10
Speaker 3: effective and thoughtful way, and then you know, raising some
40:13
Speaker 3: of those best practices up. We need to be better
40:15
Speaker 3: storytellers about the impacts we're having in communities. And we're
40:19
Speaker 3: really good about talking you know, widgets and counting units,
40:22
Speaker 3: but we need to be better at you know, counting
40:25
Speaker 3: impact and really being able to lift up the work
40:29
Speaker 3: that we're doing through some different lenses. So that's what
40:32
Speaker 3: excites me about the future generation of our leaders. I
40:35
Speaker 3: think there's lots of opportunities for folks to get engaged.
40:39
Speaker 3: And I'm hoping that, you know, through my small platforms
40:43
Speaker 3: like the work that I'm doing on the National Housing
40:45
Speaker 3: Conference and and the work that I do in local communities,
40:49
Speaker 3: are you know, inspiring people to get involved because it
40:53
Speaker 3: really does require all of us to be engaging and
40:55
Speaker 3: bringing our talents whatever they are, to supporting causes that
40:59
Speaker 3: we care about. And for me, it's you know, housing's
41:02
Speaker 3: my jam. Friends always make fun of me, but it's
41:06
Speaker 3: I think it's essential when we've got the data to
41:08
Speaker 3: prove it. So I'm hopeful about the future generation of
41:12
Speaker 3: folks that are coming into this space. And yeah, I'm
41:15
Speaker 3: hoping I can be around long enough to see all
41:18
Speaker 3: of the innovation and you know, the things that are
41:20
Speaker 3: yet to come. I'd love to be able to write
41:22
Speaker 3: my own letter, you know, or look back in twenty
41:25
Speaker 3: twenty six about the impact that this next administration in
41:29
Speaker 3: Congress was able to make by working together and putting
41:32
Speaker 3: politics aside for once. I'm hopeful today I'm choosing to
41:35
Speaker 3: be hopeful and excited about the future.
41:38
Speaker 2: I asked the question because it's such an interesting time
41:41
Speaker 2: for people to be coming into this industry. You know,
41:44
Speaker 2: when we were all in the industry, we were still
41:46
Speaker 2: doing green bar ledgers and there was no Google things
41:50
Speaker 2: like that. But you know, they have the chance to
41:53
Speaker 2: pair this technology, they have the chance to have the
41:56
Speaker 2: commitment to sustainability and all of these things. Like we've
42:00
Speaker 2: really progress. We're not there yet, but they are coming
42:04
Speaker 2: into such a platform that can go so much farther.
42:08
Speaker 2: So there is an encouragement and, like you said, a
42:10
Speaker 2: hopefulness that we can make up for lost ground, can't we?
42:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, and we're going to need it. I mean,
42:17
Speaker 3: we have a gap of you know, millions of units
42:20
Speaker 3: of homes that are needed to meet our current need,
42:24
Speaker 3: and those will only grow if we keep doing things
42:26
Speaker 3: the same way that we have. And so I challenge
42:29
Speaker 3: all of us to think differently, to you know, push
42:32
Speaker 3: ourselves to think outside the box a little bit, to
42:35
Speaker 3: be open to new ideas and new approaches. Yeah, and
42:39
Speaker 3: to be willing to learn, whether that's from other countries
42:41
Speaker 3: that are doing things differently or other communities and testing
42:45
Speaker 3: need pilots. You know. One of the things that I
42:47
Speaker 3: really love about the work that I do is that
42:49
Speaker 3: we get to sort of test out ideas on the ground.
42:52
Speaker 3: It's like an incubation lap across the country with my clients,
42:55
Speaker 3: and you know, sometimes things don't work. That's okay. We
42:58
Speaker 3: should have to be okay with failure to some degree
43:02
Speaker 3: because we're learning and hopefully you know, uh, it's like
43:06
Speaker 3: the cured to cancer, right, and we keep on the pathway.
43:08
Speaker 3: And you know, we may not cure all cancers, but
43:11
Speaker 3: we are getting better and healthier and living longer because
43:14
Speaker 3: of the investments we've been able to make in medical
43:17
Speaker 3: We mean the same kind of thing in housing innovation.
43:19
Speaker 2: And we've handed this next team and this next generation
43:23
Speaker 2: and housing gap, so we're still in it to help
43:25
Speaker 2: solve it, but they're going to bring a lot to
43:27
Speaker 2: the table to help help us get to where we
43:30
Speaker 2: need to get to solve this gap. I can definitely
43:34
Speaker 2: tell why you have been so influential in your career,
43:37
Speaker 2: whether it was coming up with the dollars for the
43:40
Speaker 2: neighborhood stabilization or even some of the some of the
43:44
Speaker 2: other efforts. You've got a great passion and you've left
43:49
Speaker 2: us with some good, really good marching orders on what
43:53
Speaker 2: we need to do next. Is there anything we missed
43:56
Speaker 2: before we close out? I know we've covered a lot,
43:58
Speaker 2: but anything know she want to highlight for us.
44:02
Speaker 3: No, I think it's great that you're doing this, So
44:04
Speaker 3: thank you for your leadership in you know, raising awareness
44:08
Speaker 3: about the important things. And you know, I know I
44:11
Speaker 3: stand with some of the other change makers you pad
44:13
Speaker 3: here that we are only as powerful as the people
44:16
Speaker 3: we serve and the communities that we impact, and so
44:18
Speaker 3: the more of your colleagues and others that can, you know,
44:22
Speaker 3: use their platforms like you're doing to lift up some
44:26
Speaker 3: of the really exciting work that's happening, and you know,
44:29
Speaker 3: the people that are challenging the status quo. So I'm
44:34
Speaker 3: excited to be among some of those folks. And I
44:37
Speaker 3: hope that we can continue this conversation, Katie is you know,
44:40
Speaker 3: maybe we can set this up a year from now
44:42
Speaker 3: and see how we've done, you know, bring a little
44:44
Speaker 3: panel together. I'd love that.
44:46
Speaker 2: Oh that'd be great. We can look at our metrics
44:48
Speaker 2: and reevaluate our scorecard, and then our marching orders could
44:53
Speaker 2: in a way absolutely Again, I've been talking with Ali
44:57
Speaker 2: so Leisee, the managing principle of so these strategic solutions.
45:02
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us.
45:04
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for having me, Katie.
45:07
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Change Makers with Katie Gore. To
45:10
Speaker 1: find out more about Katie, go to quadel dot com.
45:14
Speaker 1: That's qu A d E l dot com. This has
45:19
Speaker 1: been a production of Forbes Books Radio