PD&R Quarterly Update: Opportunities to Advance Equitable Transit-Oriented Development that Supports Affordable Housing Production

Kristy Chambers, Columbus Community Center

Kristy Chambers serves as the CEO of Columbus Community Center and brings over two decades of commitment to the nonprofit social services sector. She has developed transformative programs and overseen significant building projects that have greatly enhanced community resources and support systems.

With over thirty years as a certified public accountant, Kristy's expertise spans public accounting and top-tier management roles in diverse industries, including healthcare, real estate, retail, and hospitality. This multifaceted experience has equipped her with a unique perspective and robust skill set, enabling her to effectively navigate and lead complex organizations.

Kristy's influence extends beyond her executive role, as she has been a pivotal figure on several local and national nonprofit boards. Her leadership roles include serving as Board Chair for the Utah Nonprofit Association (UNA), Utah Health Policy Project (UHPP), South Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce (SSLC), Utah Housing Coalition (UHC), and the Association of Utah Community Health (AUCH). Through these positions, she has championed initiatives that promote health, housing, and economic development.

She graduated from UCLA with a degree in Economics/Business, earned a Master's in Business Taxation from the Washington School of Law, and recently completed her Master's in Public Policy from the University of Utah.

 

Secretary Jake Day, State of Maryland

Jake Day is Maryland's Secretary of Housing and Community Development. In that role he leads the housing and place-based economic development agency, investing more than $2.5B annually to revitalize Maryland communities and address Maryland's housing shortage. Prior to his nomination to lead the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development under Governor Wes Moore, Secretary Jacob R. Day served as the 28th Mayor of Salisbury, Maryland. Born and raised in Salisbury, he previously served as City Council President. His tenure as Mayor was marked by a resurgent downtown, thousands of new homes, the establishment of two youth community centers, and the creation of a permanent supportive housing program to address chronic homelessness.

Secretary Day's career focus has been leading community development practices utilizing design, planning, and development assistance to establish vibrant cities and towns. He served as national president of the American Institute of Architecture Students and as president of the Maryland Municipal League.

A U.S. Army Major, Secretary Day is a Cavalry, Information Operations, and Special Technical Operations Officer currently assigned to Special Operations Detachment-NATO. He is a veteran of the Global War on Terrorism and was deployed to Somalia, Kenya, and Djibouti.

Secretary Day earned a Master of Science in Nature, Society & Environmental Policy from Oxford University. He also earned a Master of Urban Design from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Maryland. He is the proud father to two beautiful daughters, Lilly and Olivia.

 

Cory Fellows, Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc. (POAH)

Cory Fellows is a Vice President in POAH's Real Estate Development group with more than 25 years of affordable housing experience. He has managed the construction, preservation, and revitalization of housing mixed-use projects throughout the country, involving an array of financing programs and regulatory environments. Since joining POAH in 2012, Cory has overseen the acquisition and development of a wide range of affordable and mixed-income multifamily properties—including the award-winning Loop at Mattapan Station transit-oriented development in Boston, MA.

Cory holds a Bachelor's degree from Colgate University and a Master's in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is former chair of the Scarborough, Maine, Planning Board and served on the town's Long-Range Planning Committee.

 

Chris Iglesias, The Unity Council

Chris Iglesias is a visionary leader committed to social equity through innovative public-private partnerships. As CEO of The Unity Council (TUC), he oversees a 60-year-old organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for residents in East Oakland's Fruitvale District, the largest Latino neighborhood in the Bay Area. Under his leadership, TUC employs 400 staff and manages a $45 million budget, providing holistic support to over 10,000 individuals and families, including early education, youth programs, senior services, and financial empowerment. Over the past 7 years, under Iglesias’ leadership, the Unity Council has secured over $250 million for affordable housing, revitalized early education through the City of Oakland’s Early/Head Start Program, and established the Resilient Fruitvale Coalition to aid community recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic. A recognized public sector leader, he previously served as Senior Advisor to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and founded CityBuild. In 2023, he was named Most Admired CEO by San Francisco Business Times.

 

Eryn Deeming Kehe, Metro

Eryn Deeming Kehe, AICP, is the Urban Policy and Development Manager at Metro, the regional government for the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. She leads the collaborative land use planning and Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) teams.

Ms. Kehe has over 25 years of experience in public planning and engagement, successfully navigating complex decision-making at the city, county, metropolitan, and state level. She has worked on downtown revitalization, long-range planning, transit-oriented development, and public engagement in California, Oregon, and Washington. In her current work with Metro’s TOD team, she leads the effort to equitably distribute $9 million in annual funding to high-density affordable housing in the region’s centers and frequent transit corridors. She is passionate about creating a more equitable region and is a strong advocate for innovative solutions that address the challenges facing communities.

Ms. Kehe holds a Master’s in city planning with a focus on urban design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was the Founding Editor of the MIT Student Journal of Planning. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Carleton College and served on the National Planning Accreditation Board. Ms. Kehe chairs Metro’s Technical Advisory Committee.

 

Clay Kerchof, California Department of Housing and Community Development

Clay Kerchof serves as the Climate and Transportation Section Chief at the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). In this role, Clay advocates for statewide housing priorities with interagency partners and advances alignment between state housing, climate, and transportation policies and programs. Previously as a Senior Disaster Recovery Specialist at HCD, Clay managed CDBG-DR Action Plan development, facilitated interagency coordination on hazard mitigation and recovery programs, and provided technical assistance to disaster-impacted communities. Prior to HCD, Clay was an Associate Planner for Wildfire Resilience at the California Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (formerly the Office of Planning and Research) and a Policy Analyst with Enterprise Community Partners' federal policy team in Washington, D.C. Clay holds a Master's degree in city planning from UC Berkeley and lives in San Francisco.

 

Harriet Tregoning, U.S. Department of Transportation

Harriet Tregoning is the Senior Advisor on Land Use in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation. She is the founding Director of NUMO, the New Urban Mobility alliance, a collaborative effort now aimed at ensuring that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds have the greatest possible impact on the health and prosperity of communities, increasing their affordable access, resilience, and low-carbon connections to jobs and daily needs.

Harriet previously served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama Administration. Harriet is the former Director of the D.C. Office of Planning, a former Secretary of Planning for the State of Maryland, and a former EPA official (where she founded the national Smart Growth Network/movement). She served on both the Transportation Planning Board for the Washington Area Council of Governments and on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board.

 

Stan Wall, HR&A Advisors

Stan Wall joined HR&A as a Partner in its Washington D.C. office in August 2015 after holding several senior positions in the mid-Atlantic region. In his previous posts, Stan worked across the entire real estate project lifecycle including strategy, planning, finance, development, and construction.

Prior to joining HR&A, Stan was the Director of Real Estate and Station Planning at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the second busiest transit system in the United States. In this role, he reinvigorated the agency's transit oriented development (TOD) program by helping them leverage their transit infrastructure to support housing and economic development. In the past three years, Stan helped to secure Board approval to pursue 16 new TOD projects. Stan also helped to enhance WMATA's relationship with local jurisdictions, which in turn served to ensure a responsiveness to the local communities and to present a consistent, unified message to interested developers.

Stan is also owner and founder of Wall Development Group, a Washington, D.C. based development firm focused on sustainable development, urban infill, and community-oriented projects. Previously Stan worked with Arup, an international firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists with a focus on innovative projects in Washington D.C. Stan also worked for a number of years at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in Washington D.C. as a Vice President in the firm's public institutions practice. Prior to Jones Lang LaSalle, Stan was a Manager with Deloitte Consulting, where he provided strategic advisory services to Fortune 500 companies in the areas of real estate, construction, and capital program management.

Stan is a registered Professional Engineer and began his career in Lend Lease's construction management group, where he was an on-site project engineer focusing on healthcare projects in the Washington-Baltimore region. Stan received a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Real Estate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. In 2013, the Washington Business Journal recognized Stan as one of the region's Minority Business Leader Award winners.