Staff

Michael Chaney

Technical Advisor

Jason Goldfarb

Consultant

Ashon Nesbitt

Technical Advisor/Research Analyst

Amanda Rosado

Technical Advisor

Johnitta Wells

Conference and Communications Manager

AIDA ANDUJAR provides training and technical assistance nationally under Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the HOME Investment Partnership Program and the Community Development Block Grant Program including workshops, clinics, onsite and offsite technical assistance and training through federal and fee-for-service contracts. Aida provides training and technical assistance under the catalyst contract with the Florida Housing Finance Corp. including workshop development, on-site and off-site technical assistance and training and responding to calls on the technical assistance line. Aida has more than 29 years of experience and training in the area of affordable housing, including 25 years of responsibility for administration and implementation of state, federal and local housing grants awarded to local governments. She speaks and writes fluent Spanish. She is a licensed Realtor and holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Florida International University.

BLAISE DENTON is a Technical Advisor for the Florida Housing Coalition. He has years of experience working with state and local government focusing on affordable housing, transportation-oriented development, historic preservation, and special populations issues. Prior to joining the Coalition, Blaise worked as a training and policy specialist at the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, where he designed E-Learning courses used to train hundreds of adult day care administrators, created budgeting systems to help manage over two million federal grant dollars, and provided planning and policy services. He has facilitated stakeholder meetings while researching transportation-oriented development and community safety issues in Tallahassee, Orlando, and nationally. Previously he has worked with the Florida Main Street Program, where he provided local communities with access to research, marketing, and ArcGIS services.  Blaise specializes in ArcGIS, land use planning and practices, community stakeholder engagement, technical writing, and training services across the spectrum of the Coalition’s work. Blaise holds a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a dual Bachelors in Literature and Religion from Florida State University.

CARTER BURTON has 15 years of experience administering HUD housing and community development programs, specifically the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnership (HOME) Programs. Carter is a former CDBG Program Manager for the Arizona Department of Housing and former Grant Administrator for the State of New York Small Cities program. Carter specializes in HUD Consolidated Planning and has developed numerous Consolidated Plans, Annual Action Plans, Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing, and Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Reports for Entitlements throughout Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Texas. Prior to joining the Florida Housing Coalition Carter worked for two State agencies, then transitioned to consulting for local Entitlements and nonprofit organizations.

MICHAEL CHANEY is a Technical Advisor for the Florida Housing Coalition. He has 21 years of experience providing technical assistance to local government, nonprofit housing professionals, and consumers throughout Florida.  Chaney offers training and technical assistance to the advisors implementing Florida’s Hardest Hit foreclosure prevention program.  He also serves as a trainer for the Coalition’s Housing Workshops, where his focus includes monitoring nonprofit sponsors, enhancing rehabilitation strategies, and general housing program administration. Michael is certified by NeighborWorks for both Homebuyer Counseling and Foreclosure Prevention and served as a Neighborworks instructor for Florida-based 5 day certification trainings for housing counselors.  He has written several articles for the Coalition’s journal on topics related to foreclosure prevention, SHIP and housing for people with disabilities.   Mr. Chaney holds a Bachelor’s degree from Loyola University in New Orleans and a Masters of Social Work Administration from Florida State University, where he has served as an adjunct faculty member of the housing department.

GLADYS COOK brings over 25 years of experience in housing and community development in Florida. She has been a technical advisor for the Florida Housing Coalition for many of those years and has developed training and program design for nonprofit organizations and local governments.  As a planner she provides research and analysis skills in the formation of housing incentives, conducting needs assessments, and housing specialties such as land banking and community land trusts.  She offers capacity building and strategic planning for organizations including predevelopment, underwriting and compliance for homeownership, rental and supportive housing.  Gladys is a problem solver and consensus builder seeking to maximize human and capital resources to expand the supply of accessible, sustainable, and affordable homes for workforce and special needs households.

PAM DAVIS is the Administrative Assistant/Workshop Coordinator for the Florida Housing Coalition. She oversees the day-to-day administrative operations at the Tallahassee office, which includes answering phones, distributing mail, updating and renewing memberships. Davis also assists the Technical Advisors staff in the coordination and planning of workshops. With years of experience creating memorable meeting and event moments, Davis focuses on all aspects of meeting and event management. Including planning, site selection, negotiation, contracting, choosing menus, running registration, reservations, database, attendee management, financial/budget management, travel arrangements, entertainment, speakers, audio visual equipment and on site services.

KODY GLAZER is a Technical Advisor with the Florida Housing Coalition. He has extensive experience with local and state governmental affairs, fair housing, land use, and environmental law. Prior to joining the Coalition, Kody clerked for the National Fair Housing Alliance in Washington D.C. where he gained valuable insight into federal funding mechanisms and discrimination laws that affect affordable housing and opportunity.  Kody has also clerked for the Leon County Attorney’s Office and Hopping Green & Sams P.A. where he specialized in land use and environmental law focusing on the land development process of various local governments and other processes that effect the makeup of the human environment. Kody is currently working on his J.D. at the Florida State College of Law and is a member of the Florida State University Law Review and Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law.

JASON GOLDFARB is the president of JCG Housing Consultants, where he provides consulting services to affordable housing developers, and also serves as a consultant with the Florida Housing Coalition. Prior to founding JCG Housing Consultants, he served as the director of acquisitions with Related Urban. While at Related Urban, Goldfarb was responsible for identifying government subsidies and acquiring properties located in underserved markets throughout Florida. Goldfarb has experience with a variety of federal, state and local funding sources, including nine-percent and four-percent low income housing tax credits, tax exempt bonds, NSP, HOME, FHLB, SAIL and documentary surtax funding.

KATHY GRAY is the Florida Housing Coalition Internship Coordinator. She manages from six to twelve interns per semester in support of the training and technical assistance staff in the field. As a former legal editor, Katherine conducted legal reviews of materials received from city and county governments across the United States in order to codify amendments to laws and ordinances in preparation for publication in print and online format. Katherine holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and in Political Science from Florida State University.

PAMELA JO HATLEY holds a juris doctor and certificate in environmental and land use law from the University of Florida (2003) and a PhD in Geography and Environmental Science and Policy from the University of South Florida (2013). She has practiced real estate, land use, and environmental law in the Tampa Bay area for fourteen years. Pamela’s dissertation research focused on citizen participation in community-based planning and local government land use processes. She has taught as an adjunct instructor at the University of South Florida, in the masters of urban and regional planning and public administration programs.

PRISCILLA HOWARD is president of The Community Solutions Group, a housing and community development advisory firm in Brandon, Florida. In this capacity, she serves as a development consultant and advisor on several transactions throughout Florida. Additionally, she serves as a Technical Assistance advisor to the Florida Housing Coalition. Howard’s housing experience spans 32 years, beginning in 1986 with Florida’s Department of Community Affairs, where she administered programs designed to encourage reinvestment into neighborhoods in or near central business districts. She has worked hand-in-hand with first-time developers, nonprofits, and local governments to help them understand the intricacies of these complex financing and incentive programs. Howard served on the City of Tallahassee’s Planning Commission, and served as a commissioner on the Governor’s Affordable Housing Study Commission, representing the general interests of the citizens of Florida and working with the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, the Department of Community Affairs, local governments, and the Florida legislature to meet housing needs across the state. Howard is currently serving her 2nd term on FHLBank Atlanta’s Affordable Housing Advisory Council.

ASHON NESBITT comes to the Florida Housing Coalition with experience in local government, asset management, underwriting and development. Prior to joining Florida Housing Coalition, Ashon was Project Manager for an affordable multifamily developer in Tampa, managing projects at various levels for a total of nearly $90 million invested, with an emphasis on acquisition and rehabilitation in partnership with nonprofit organizations. Ashon also served as an Asset Manager and Underwriter for a prominent syndicator of low income housing tax credits, with duties focused on investor yield maintenance, tax credit delivery and program compliance. Additionally, Ashon has local government experience, serving two years as Assistant Housing Programs Manager for Alachua County, where he managed the county’s SHIP Down Payment Assistance Program, CDBG Home Rehabilitation program and conducted Homebuyer Education classes. Ashon has Master’s Degrees in Urban and Regional Planning and Real Estate from the University of Florida, and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies degree from Florida A&M University.

LORI PAMPILO-HARRIS currently serves as a consultant working with the public and private sectors who seek to balance profit and purpose, that will lead to serving more people and their mission. This includes bringing order to chaos, crisis communications, and in creating systems that focus on achieving measurable success and deepening impact on some of communities’ most complex issues. Most recently, Lori served as Senior Adviser on Homelessness and Social Services to the Hon. Buddy Dyer, the Mayor of the City of Orlando. Lori had the unique and ambitious goal of implementing “Housing First” and supported the successful end to chronic veteran’s homelessness and housing over 500 individuals in just two years. Prior to her appointment with the City of Orlando, Lori spent nearly 14 years with Habitat for Humanity International in various leadership capacities with expertise in disaster recovery and response, affordable housing, emergency shelter solutions, resource development and advocacy. This included four years in Haiti, after the devastating 2010 earthquake. As a Native Hawaiian, Lori also engages in Native peoples’ initiatives and advocacy, promoting self-determination for indigenous people.

DEIDRE PARK is the CFO and Operations Director for the Florida Housing Coalition. She has extensive experience in the financial and nonprofit industries including lending, risk management, financial accounting, and contract management. Prior to joining FHC, Deidre’s nonprofit experience has primarily focused on assistance to people experiencing homelessness including veterans and families. Ms. Park provides administrative support to the technical advisors and is the liaison for auditors, vendors, and human resource related contacts. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Converse College and is a graduate of LSU Graduate School of Banking.

ELISSA PLANCHER has years of hands-on experience in the homelessness and housing sector administering a variety of housing projects and programs for people experiencing homelessness.  She is focused on developing and implementing effective solution-oriented strategies to help enrich the lives of individuals who are experiencing homelessness or reintegrating into the community by making decent, safe, and affordable housing opportunities accessible to these vulnerable residents.  In her most recent role as Housing & SOAR/Entitlements Coordinator at the Broward Behavioral Health Coalition, Elissa strategically developed and launched the Behavioral Health/Homeless Systems Integration, implemented the SOAR initiative in Broward County, and was responsible for PATH oversight.  Over the last 12 years, Elissa has served disadvantaged populations in South Florida and Colorado by providing direct services, training, technical assistance, and system development/implementation. Her primary experience relates to administering HUD, state, and locally funded subsidized housing programs for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services, Boulder County Housing Authority, and Broward County Housing Authority.  Elissa has also worked in case management as well as directly working with consumers in homeless shelters.  She graduated from Florida State University in 2004 with her Bachelors of Science, majoring in International Affairs with a minor in Political Science.

AMANDA ROSADO holds a master’s degree in Social Work with a focus on organizations and communities from the University of South Carolina. For the past ten years, she has worked with individuals and families experiencing chronic homelessness in various settings including a drop in center, emergency shelter, HIV clinic, and permanent supportive housing programs. In 2010, she assisted in piloting Columbia, South Carolina’s first housing first program for chronically homeless individuals, families, and persons living with HIV/AIDS. Her most recent position was with a managing entity in Northeast Florida. In that role, she worked to provide housing as an effective healthcare intervention for consumers within the substance abuse and mental health system. As a strong advocate for housing first and recovery oriented systems of care, she is passionate about utilizing evidence based practices and providing effective interventions to work with some of the most vulnerable populations.

JAIMIE ROSS is the President and CEO of the Florida Housing Coalition. Prior to joining the Florida Housing Coalition as CEO, Ms. Ross served as the Affordable Housing Director at 1000 Friends of Florida, a statewide nonprofit smart growth organization, from 1991- 2015. Prior to her tenure at 1000 Friends of Florida, Ross was a land use and real property lawyer representing for profit and nonprofit developers and financial institutions with a law firm in Orlando.

In 1991, Ross initiated the broad-based coalition that successfully advocated the passage of the William E. Sadowski Affordable Housing Act, providing a dedicated revenue source for affordable housing in Florida. She continues to facilitate the Sadowski Act Coalition to ensure funding for Florida’s state and local housing programs. Her work includes all forms of legislative and administrative advocacy and education related to the planning and financing of affordable housing. She has authored numerous articles on the planning and financing of affordable housing and smart growth tools for producing and preserving affordable housing. With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, Ross produced “Creating Inclusive Communities”, a macro-media flash presentation on best practices for inclusionary housing programs. She founded the Florida Community Land Trust Institute in January, 2000.

Nationally, Ross serves on the Boards of Grounded Solutions Network and the Innovative Housing Institute. She is a nationally recognized expert in avoiding and overcoming the NIMBY syndrome. Ross is past Chair of the Affordable Housing Committee of the Real Property Probate & Trust Law Section of the Florida Bar, and a former Fannie Mae Foundation James A. Johnson Community Fellow.

KIMBERLY SPENCE is a training and technical assistance provider with 10 years of experience administering local planning, housing, and community development programs and providing consulting services with a focus on data collection and analysis for preparation of Consolidated Plans, Annual Action Plans, and Analyses of Impediments to Fair Housing. Prior to joining the Florida Housing Coalition, Spence worked for one local government in Florida and two private consulting firms. Spence specializes in collecting and interpreting social, economic, and physical data; preparing Consolidated Plans, Annual Action Plans, and Analyses of Impediments; development of policies and procedures, setting up tracking and reporting program progress in IDIS, and grant monitoring. She is also experienced in developing policies and procedures, monitoring recipients of federal funding to ensure program compliance, and providing technical assistance to local governments.

Spence is a certified Economic Development Finance Professional, a certified Community Real Estate Developer, and holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida Atlantic University.

BENJAMIN TORO-SPEARS is a technical advisor with an extensive background in affordable housing and community development, real estate finance, and data management. Toro-Spears has experience in facilitating strategic planning sessions, managing databases on real estate investments, conducting geospatial analyses, financial management, and assessing the impacts of housing and community development activities. As a Technical Advisor, Toro-Spears provides training to local governments, nonprofit housing developers, and their partners on compliance with affordable housing program regulations, financial and data management, and best practices for organizational management. Toro-Spears also prepares maps and spatial analyses using GIS, and assists with data collection and statistical analysis for the Coalition’s policy documents and housing needs assessments for clients.

In his tenure at Enterprise, as an Impact Assessment Fellow, Toro-Spears assessed the impact of Enterprise Community Loan Fund projects and contributed to an index used to evaluate Communities of Opportunity across the nation. As an Information Analyst, Toro-Spears provided technical assistance to public and private clients, conducted company-wide strategic planning sessions, managed a database of over $35 billion in corporate real estate investments, prepared impact case studies on corporate real estate projects, conducted geospatial analyses, and developed and managed an impact measurement database.

JOHNITTA WELLS is the Conference and Communications Manager at the Florida Housing Coalition. Her primary responsibilities include coordinating the logistics for the Coalition’s annual conference, assisting affordable housing advocates with the tools needed to advocate for affordable housing through the Sadowski Affiliates, and handles the Coalition’s communications, including messaging to internal and external audiences, and the Coalition’s website. Prior to joining the Coalition, Wells served as communications coordinator with the Florida Chamber of Commerce and editor at Florida A&M University. She brings a wealth of experience in public relations, marketing and publications. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Florida A&M University.