Coalition of Housers Working Group

Get to know the team behind CoHo!

Amanda Clifford, Policy and Advocacy Associate at Bill Wilson Center (she/her)

In 2017, Bill Wilson Center hired Amanda as a full-time Policy and Advocacy Associate. In this role, Amanda serves on several committees to shape federal, state, and local policies for youth experiencing homelessness and address how homelessness intersects with the criminal justice system. At a national level, Amanda assisted the Coalition for Juvenile Justice on their report “Implementing Change: Addressing the Intersections of Juvenile Justice and Youth Homelessness for Young Adults” by providing input on a paper regarding youth in the juvenile justice system and their experiences with homelessness. Amanda was also appointed to serve as a member of the National Youth Forum on homelessness. This forum is the country’s only youth-led advocacy body dedicated to preventing and ending youth homelessness.

Amanda graduated from Santa Clara University in 2017 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Sociology and Political Science. In 2019, Amanda graduated Northwestern University with a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration.

 

Anna Cole, Associate Project Manager at Alta Housing (she/her)

Anna helps manage ground-up housing developments from acquisition to lease-up in Mountain View with Alta Housing, formerly known as Palo Alto Housing. She is passionate about making housing more accessible and affordable in Silicon Valley, and believes outreach to recent graduates early in their careers is a great tool to increase housing development. Anna is co-leading the Careers in Affordable Housing fireside chat series that is planned to begin in late August 2020. Anna holds a B.S. in Architectural Design and M.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.

 

 

Dixie Lira-Baus, Associate Director, Acquisitions & Special Projects at Eden Housing, Inc. (she/her)

Since 1993, Dixie has worked in the affordable housing industry and has expertise in development, finance, property operations and asset management for the single purpose of creating and preserving affordable housing. Her development career includes work vital to the creation and preservation of more than 100 projects, totaling more than $2B in total development projects. As an Associate Director in Development for Eden Housing, she manages the pipeline of new projects, acquisitions and special projects.

Why is Dixie working in affordable housing? “I believe it is a human right for every person to have the choice as to whether or not they have a roof over their heads each night. It seemed like our fellow human beings took that right for granted and more and more people found themselves with that choice taken away. It is my mission to bridge the gap between a basic human right and those who want housing. Affordability drives this choice.”

 

Hector Romero, Housing Programs Manager, SCC at Abode Services (Bio coming soon!)

 

Ingrid Granados, Community Engagement Specialist at Destination: Home (Bio coming soon!)

 

Jacklyn Joanino, Development Officer at City of San José Housing Department (Bio coming soon!)

 

Janaé Gaines, Associate Development Project Manager at Alta Housing (she/her)

Affordable housing has always been a passion of Janaé’s. Having faced unsafe, unaffordable housing, it had become a personal curiosity about how there are not more affordable homes in the Bay Area. She recently completed an internship in the 2019-2020 Bay Area Housing Internship Program through NPH. She is happy to now be a full-time employee with Alta Housing, the agency that hosted her as an intern. Working in development has helped her understand that although affordable housing is crucial now, there is a lot of work that goes into providing affordable homes.

 

 

Joanne Price, Vice President, Real Estate & Operations at LifeMoves (Bio coming soon!)

 

Kat Wortham, Senior Associate, Health & Housing Policy at Silicon Valley Leadership Group (she/her)

At the Leadership Group, Kat leads the health policy portfolio with a focus on policies which promote access to care and healthy outcomes, and spearheads local housing development advocacy work. Before becoming Senior Associate, Kat was a coordinator at the Leadership Group where she championed the advocacy efforts for three high density, mixed-use home developments in the South Bay. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Dominican University of California in 2016. Kat became interested in the affordable housing industry through her own experience living in affordable housing as a child.

 

 

Kriti Garg, Policy & Outreach Associate at SV@Home (she/her)

At SV@Home, Kriti supports the organization’s policy and advocacy initiatives across Santa Clara County, leads the annual Affordable Housing Month Silicon Valley, and manages Coalition of Housers efforts. She has previously worked on community advocacy, cultural and political programming, and learning and development at colleges and universities, foundations, and other nonprofits. She is also an inspired alum of two local leadership and advocacy programs, Bay Area Solidarity Summer and Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute. Kriti is committed to collaboratively working towards a more socially and economically just future by building up the next generation of affordable housing leaders with the CoHo network.

 

Marisa Corriea, PHI Community Health Fellow at The Health Trust (she/hers/they/them)

Marisa Corriea is the PHI Community Health Fellow at The Health Trust, focused on housing. Marisa holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Human Biology and gained direct service experience with families experiencing homelessness after completing her degree. This experience led them to continue working in housing and to advocate for affordable housing to better serve their community.

 

 

 

Steven Yang, Senior Loan Officer, Multifamily Lending & Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Lead at Housing Trust Silicon Valley (he/his/him)

Steven Yang joined Housing Trust as Loan Officer in December 2017 and was named Senior Loan Officer & DEI Lead in July 2019. In this role, Steven works with the Multifamily Lending Program team to originate and manage loans to housing developers and cultivate financing partnerships. He also leads Housing Trust’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee. Steven is passionate about advocating for those who can’t or won’t.

 

 

Tiffany C. Wong, Advocacy Coordinator at EAH Housing (she/her)

Tiffany is the Advocacy Coordinator with EAH Housing. She is responsible for leading civic engagement opportunities such as Census & GOTV (Get Out The Vote efforts) for EAH affordable housing communities in California and Hawaii. She provides trainings on how to engage residents to partner organizations and their Services staff. Tiffany is passionate about having diverse, equitable, and inclusive policies that uplift resident voices. She resides in South San Jose with her family and enjoys hiking in her spare time.