About HAC Archives

Staff

April 28, 2009/in Staff

HAC has a highly knowledgeable and experienced staff, well versed in housing, economic, and community development. HAC staff have extensive experience in including all aspects of federal housing programs, housing rehabilitation, program administration, economic development, cross-cutting regulations, project financing, financial management, infrastructure, construction, and organizational management.

Housing Assistance Council Staff

Addresses, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses for HAC offices are available here.

Executive Office

David Lipsetz, CEO, david@ruralhome.org
Samantha Booth, Government Relations Manager, samantha@ruralhome.org
Jennifer McAllister, Development Manager, jennifer@ruralhome.org
Stephen Sugg, Special Projects Manager, stephen@ruralhome.org

Loan Fund

Eileen Neely, Director of Loan Fund, eileen@ruralhome.org
Kristin Blum, Senior Loan Officer, kristin@ruralhome.org
Jennifer Lam, Portfolio Manager, jenniferl@ruralhome.org
Louis Marshall, Loan Processor, louis@ruralhome.org
Carlos Muralles, SHOP Program Manager, carlos@ruralhome.org

Research and Information

Lance George, Director of Research and Information, lance@ruralhome.org
Christina Davila, Research Associate,
christinad@ruralhome.org
Michael Feinberg, Senior Policy Analyst,
michael@ruralhome.org
Isabella Green, Stevenson Fellow,
isabella@ruralhome.org
Evelyn Immonen, Research & Policy Associate, evelyn@ruralhome.org
Katie Starr, Emerson Hunger Fellow, katie@ruralhome.org
Dan Stern, Communications and Outreach Manager, dan@rural home.org
Leslie Strauss, Senior Policy Analyst, leslie@ruralhome.org
Keith Wiley, Senior Research Associate, keith@ruralhome.org

Rural Housing Services, Inc.

Jorge Diaz, Portfolio Manager, jorge@ruralhome.org

Training and Technical Assistance

Southeast Office

Shonterria Charleston, Director of Training and Technical Assistance, shonterria@ruralhome.org
Christina Adeshakin, Housing Specialist, christina@ruralhome.org
Kelly Cooney, Housing Specialist, kelly@ruralhome.org

Southwest Office

Anselmo Telles, Senior Housing Specialist, anselmo@ruralhome.org

Midwest Office

Stephanie Nichols, CHDO Project Manager/Housing Specialist, stephanie@ruralhome.org
Vickey Stratton, Housing Specialist, vickey@ruralhome.org

Finance and Administration Division

Karin Klusmann, Director of Finance, karin@ruralhome.org
Alem Berhane, Managerial Accountant, alem@ruralhome.org
LaVerne Lawrence, Staff Accountant, laverne@ruralhome.org

If you have a general question or are not sure which office to contact, please contact only the National Office at hac@ruralhome.org and HAC staff will determine who is best able to respond to you. Sending e-mails to more than one address will slow down HAC’s response because staffers will have to take time asking each other who is going to respond.

Annual Report 2008

June 26, 2008/in About HAC - Annual Reports

2008 Annual Report

Communities across the nation have been devastated by the current economic crisis. Rising mortgage foreclosure rates, mounting personal debts, and skyrocketing unemployment have increased the need for stable, affordable housing. However, these same economic trends have made it even more difficult for local nonprofits to create needed housing opportunities for low-income residents. In the current economic environment, the Housing Assistance Council’s work as an intermediary organization is even more important.

By definition, intermediary organizations serve as a bridge between two entities. HAC uses knowledge, financial and technical resources, and access to connect rural communities to the larger housing sector. And, despite the challenges, there were many successes this year. This annual report highlights the links HAC was able to forge over 2008. It is also a testament to the phenomenal partners HAC works with across the nation and their dedication to improving rural communities.

Some of HAC’s accomplishments over the year include:

Providing more than $20.85 million in loans and grants to help produce more than 1,800 units of affordable housing.
Hosting more than 15 national, regional, and audio-web training events with more than 1,000 participants.
Providing key information through the HAC website, www.ruralhome.org, which received more than 10 million web visits over the year.
Developing a national Rural Housing Platform that shares program and policy recommendations that can benefi t those working to create affordable housing opportunities.

HAC’s ongoing partnership with local communities is the foundation on which it is able to fulfill its mission. By listening to local communities and communicating the issues we hear, HAC is able to contribute to the national dialogue in a way that reflects the needs and interests of rural communities. In March 2008, HAC completed a survey of stakeholders and learned about the issues impacting rural communities and how HAC’s products and services can better serve those needs. Feedback from the most recent survey is provided throughout the annual report.

It is with great pride that HAC continues to stand with rural communities and build the bridges that result in stronger local organizations, increased housing opportunities, and better communities. HAC is proud of the work we have done together in 2008 and excited about making new connections throughout 2009.

Annual Report 2007

June 26, 2007/in About HAC - Annual Reports

2007 Annual Report

It is a pleasure to report that 2007 brought the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) opportunities to expand its traditional work and to develop new resources for its local partners. This year HAC received the largest loan ever made to its loan fund, new resources to address rural homelessness, an excellent rating from a new assessment system, and requests for consultations on several housing initiatives in Congress. HAC’s work this year also involved foreclosure prevention, rental preservation, green building, and self-help homeownership, a new web-based resource for local organizations, and a number of successful training sessions.

Specifically, HAC’s accomplishments in 2007 include the following.

HAC committed over $18.4 million in financing for 1,423 homes to be developed by 52 organizations in 28 states.
Sources committing new funds for HAC’s lending included the Bank of America, which loaned $10 million, the largest loan HAC has ever received.
The Opportunity Finance Network’s CDFI Assessment Rating System™ (CARS), which rates Community Development Financial Institutions, gave HAC a very strong rating: AAA for impact performance, + for policy, and 2 for financial strength.
The Department of Health and Human Services Compassion Capital Fund awarded HAC $1million for a three-year Rural Homelessness Capacity Building Initiative to begin in January 2008.
Responding to congressional requests, HAC testified before committees in both the House and Senate considering new legislation on homelessness, and at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on rural housing.
HAC developed and delivered new training on post-purchase counseling to prevent foreclosures.
As part of its ongoing work to save much-needed affordable rentals in rural America, HAC offered a training conference on rural rental housing preservation focused on areas with declining populations and conducted research on the location of federally funded rental housing in rural places.
To help increase local organizations’ abilities to meet their communities’ needs, HAC made capacity building grants focusing on green building and rental preservation.
A new Rural Housing Data Portal debuted on HAC’s website, www.ruralhome.org, providing user-friendly access to data about people and their homes on the national, state, and county levels.
HAC targeted special attention this year, as it does consistently, to the parts of rural America with persistently high levels of poverty and housing need: Appalachia, colonias, farmworkers, the Mississippi Delta, and Native Americans.

As always, this year local organizations throughout rural America made good use of HAC’s loans, grants, trainings, technical assistance, and information resources. The importance of HAC’s role as an intermediary remains clear. HAC makes available resources that local organizations would not otherwise be able to access, enabling them, in turn, to provide decent, affordable homes in their own communities.

Through Partnership … Progress: 35 Years of Building Rural Communities

August 14, 2006/in About HAC - Annual Reports

Through Partnership … Progress: 35 Years of Building Rural Communities
Marks HAC’s 35th anniversary with a detailed review of the achievements of HAC’s loan fund.
2006, 28 pages, ISBN 1-58064-148-2

Through Partnership & Promise: Ten Years of the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program in Rural Communities

August 14, 2006/in About HAC - Annual Reports

Through Partnership & Promise: Ten Years of the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program in Rural Communities
Reports on the impact of the first ten years of the Housing Assistance Council/U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development partnership for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP), which helps families achieve homeownership.
2006, 28 pages, ISBN 1-58064-149-0

Annual Report 2006

June 26, 2006/in About HAC - Annual Reports

2006 Annual Report

In 2006 the Housing Assistance Council marked its 35th anniversary by celebrating the partnerships that make it successful. HAC’s partners include committed funders, colleagues and coalitions at the national, state, regional, and local levels, and, most importantly, local rural housing organizations. From experienced nonprofits serving multi-county areas to new groups struggling to hire staff, it is the organizations grounded in their own communities that devote every day to finding the dollars, materials, and hours to provide decent, affordable homes for all rural Americans.

HAC too brings something special to its partnerships. It is a rural housing expert, a lender, a grantmaker, a technical assistance provider, a training institute, a conference host, a research facility, and a publisher. This annual report shows how these functions combine to address homeownership and rental housing challenges across rural America.

HAC’s major accomplishments during 2006 included:

convening the National Rural Housing Conference in December 2006, bringing together over 700 rural housing practitioners,policymakers, funders, and others;
committing 67 loans totaling nearly id=mce_marker7 million to 53 organizations in 25 states to help create or preserve almost 1,000 decent, affordable homes for rural Americans;
implementing a new $5.5 million Preservation Revolving Loan Fund to help save USDA-financed rental properties;
holding conferences on rental preservation and green building;
improving local rural organizations’ abilities to help their own communities through targeted trainings, exchanges with experienced peer organizations, one-on-one technical assistance, and grants to cover essential capacity building expenses;
providing direct financial assistance to rural housing organizations in places devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and helping to keep rural issues on the agenda of other organizations; and
informing policymakers, researchers, advocates, and local rural housing groups about important subjects including manufactured housing, asset-building, predatory lending, rural homelessness, and more.

Thank you for supporting HAC as it begins its 36th year of hard work to improve housing conditions for rural Americans.

30 Years of Supporting Affordable Housing in Rural Communities

January 1, 2001/in About HAC - Annual Reports

Housing Assistance Council Loan Funds 1971-2001: 30 Years of Supporting Affordable Housing in Rural Communities
Describes the results of HAC’s lending over its 30-year history.
2001, 24 pages, ISBN 1-58064-112-1