Center for Affordable Housing Lending Names Julia Gordon as Inaugural Senior Fellow
Former Federal Housing Commissioner will lead research on the future of affordable housing finance
WASHINGTON, D.C.– As the nation marks National Homeownership Month, the Center for Affordable Housing Lending today announced that Julia Gordon has been named its inaugural Senior Fellow– the first appointment in a new Housing Supply Research & Fellowship Program designed to tackle the most pressing challenges in affordable housing finance.
Gordon is one of the country’s foremost experts on housing policy and federal housing finance. She most recently served as Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and has also served as President of the National Community Stabilization Trust and a senior official at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
As Senior Fellow, Gordon will focus on obstacles to affordable homeownership, including increasing the supply of starter homes and addressing the skyrocketing cost of property insurance. Gordon’s work will focus on developing practical, policy-ready solutions for lenders, developers, and policymakers navigating this new reality.
“National Homeownership Month is a reminder of why this work matters,” said Sarah Brundage, President and CEO of NAAHL and the Center. “Julia Gordon has spent her career fighting to make homeownership a real possibility for more people who have too often been left out. Her experience–from the federal level to the community level–makes her exactly the kind of bold, experienced thinker the Center needs to ensure policy and practice go hand-in-hand.”
“Homeownership has long served as a platform for families to access housing stability and economic opportunity,” said Julia Gordon, Senior Fellow at the Center for Affordable Housing Lending. “But the building blocks for that platform are quietly disappearing. Families can’t buy homes that don’t exist, and the homes that do exist are increasingly unaffordable and uninsurable. I look forward to digging into both these challenges with the Center and developing real solutions that policymakers and lenders can realistically use.”
A New Model for Housing Policy Research
Gordon’s fellowship is the launch of a broader program made possible by a $1 million grant from Citi Foundation and brings together experienced practitioners and policymakers to incubate solutions that are both innovative and implementable. This philanthropic grant is the first part of Citi’s Blueprint for Housing Opportunity initiative—a five-year housing affordability commitment that includes $60 billion in financing to help create and preserve at least 250,000 units across the U.S. and $50 million in Citi Foundation grants to non-profits addressing housing challenges and supporting the financial health of residents.
“Expanding access to housing that is truly affordable requires us to understand and deploy solutions for the full range of challenges that households and lenders face—from the operational and financial barriers to building, to the financial health of residents,” said Brandee McHale, Head of Community Investing and Development at Citi and President of the Citi Foundation. “The Center’s fellowship model will bring rigorous research into direct contact with the lenders and policymakers who can put it to work. Citi Foundation is proud to support the Center’s work to catalyze practical solutions to one of the nation’s most urgent issues.”
What makes the Center’s fellowship model distinctive is what happens after the research. Fellows don’t just publish a paper–they engage with NAAHL’s member network of leading banks, CDFIs, and housing lenders throughout the process, pressure testing ideas against real-world experience. When the work is published, NAAHL’s policy team picks up the baton and works directly with policymakers to advance solutions.
This first phase of the program also includes:
A new report documenting the impact of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) on affordable housing, community development, and local economies.
A “Policy & Practice” education series, including a brief released in March on the role of CDFIs in community lending and a forthcoming brief on the history and current state of America’s starter home shortage.
About Julia Gordon
Julia Gordon most recently served as Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at HUD, a Senate-confirmed role in which she led the Federal Housing Administration and its $1.5 trillion mortgage insurance portfolio—reducing borrower insurance premiums, strengthening the insurance fund’s reserves, and improving safety and resilience standards for homeowners and rental housing. She previously served as President of the National Community Stabilization Trust and held senior roles at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Center for American Progress, and the Center for Responsible Lending. Gordon consults on federal, state, and local housing policy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.