Thrive & SIAG Social Impact Series: The Business of Affordable Housing: Successful Cross-Sector Innovation to Address our Bay Area Crisis

The challenge of providing affordable housing in the Bay Area has intensified with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With many experts predicting a prolonged economic slump, innovative ideas are required to create more housing. Join the Social Impact Advisory Group and Thrive for a virtual panel discussion with local housing providers, builders, and investors on how nonprofits, businesses and government can and are joining forces to address the Bay Area’s housing crisis in the midst of a recession.

Featuring: Kate Comfort Harr, Executive Director, HIP Housing; Jonathan Fearn, Sr. Director, Development, Greystar; Raj Patel, General Partner, Golden Gate Opportunity Fund; Julie Mahowald, CFO and Interim CEO, Housing Trust Silicon Valley. This session will be facilitated by Maya Tussing, Partner and Co-Founder of Fairlight Advisors.

Presented by Thrive Alliance’s Basic Needs & Safety Net TAG and Social Impact Advisory Group (SIAG). Sponsored by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E).

*Zoom information will be sent to registered attendees.

SPEAKERS

Kate Comfort Harr, Executive Director, HIP Housing

Kate Comfort Harr has called San Mateo County home for over 30 years. She holds Bachelor degrees in both Sociology and Communication Studies from UCSB and a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Administration from USF. She is the Executive Director of HIP Housing, a San Mateo County based nonprofit specializing in creative affordable housing solutions, that proudly helps to house 1400 people each year. In her tenure with HIP Housing, Kate has been dedicated to program and property development and has been a frequent speaker on a wide range of affordable housing topics. She is known for “outside of the box” thinking and is especially passionate about engaging the private, public and social sectors in addressing housing challenges. She is equally passionate about drawing new talent into the social sector and sees it as an important part of being a local leader.

Jonathan Fearn, Sr. Director, Development, Greystar

Jonathan Fearn oversees development activities for all Greystar projects in Redwood City and Santa Clara. In addition to obtaining discretionary approvals and entitlements, his primary responsibilities include due diligence, forecasting and budgeting, initial land and site planning, architecture and design, government relations and community outreach. Prior to joining Greystar, Jonathan served as Vice President of Development at SummerHill Housing Group where he was responsible for entitlements for multifamily, single-family and mixed-use projects in the SF Peninsula and South Bay. Prior to SummerHill, Jonathan worked as Development Manager for Em Johnson Interest, a real estate development firm specializing primarily in affordable housing and economic development projects within low income communities. Jonathan is a member of the Oakland Planning Commission, a member of the RHNA Housing Methodology Committee, a former Technical Committee member of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Committee to House the Bay Area (CASA), a board member of Housing Trust Silicon Valley and a founding member of the Casita Coalition, an advocacy group created to advocate for small building forms throughout California. Jonathan holds a Masters of City and Regional Planning with a concentration in Housing and Community Development from the University of California - Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Raj Patel, General Partner of the Golden Gate Opportunity Fund

Raj Patel is a general partner of the Golden Gate Opportunity Fund, a residential development fund that focuses on workforce housing supply and other ESG-related property development in the City and County of San Francisco. He is also a venture investor, management consultant, and corporate strategist. He has built early stage products and services for consumers for 10+ years and has done emerging markets startup and general private equity investing for 5+ years. His experience includes various tours of duty in a healthcare statistics startup, a consumer financial services company, an educational services enterprise, intellectual property law, asset management, venture capital, and direct sales. He wrote the original international marketing plan for the Airbnb founders in 2009. He was BUILD’s Mentor of the Year in 2008 and is a strong advocate for poverty reduction through entrepreneurship. He is a graduate of Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and Y-Combinator’s Startup School. He has lived and worked in the US, Europe, and Latin America.

Julie Mahowald, CFO and Interim CEO, Housing Trust Silicon Valley

Julie Mahowald is devoted to bringing impact capital to solve the most entrenched social problems, especially affordable housing. In Julie’s role as Chief Financial Officer of Housing Trust Silicon Valley her responsibilities include strategy and planning, capital structure and capital raise, accounting, treasury as well as admin and operations.  She is part of the leadership team bringing the TECH Fund, the Apple Affordable Housing Fund, and Google’s recent Launch Initiative to fruition –each investing funds to start up or preserve affordable homes within months of establishment. Prior to joining Housing Trust Julie spent her career in corporate finance at high growth tech firms such as Oracle, Maxtor, Celestica, and various Silicon Valley start-ups.  Julie’s nonprofit management experience extends to her roles on the board of Los Altos Community Foundation and various other community nonprofit leadership roles. Julie earned her BA in Economics from Tulane University and an MBA in Finance and MA in International Studies from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania where she was a Fellow with the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies.

FACILITATED BY

Maya Tussing, Partner and Co-Founder of Fairlight Advisors

Maya Tussing provides investment and risk management services to nonprofits and philanthropic individuals. Prior to Fairlight, Maya was an investment advisor with Alesco Advisors where she co-led the West Coast office. Over the last 20 years, she has held senior risk management roles at firms such as BlackRock, Barclays Global Investors, Visa, and GE Capital. She is a graduate of Pomona College and holds an MBA in international finance from the University of Washington.