Speakers

Austria (Vienna)

Eva Bauer, Head of Housing Economics, Austrian Federation of Limited-Profit Housing Associations

Eva Bauer graduated in Studies of Sociology and Economics at the University of Vienna. Her professional career led from academic research in housing to her job as housing economist at the Austrian Federation of Limited Profit Housing Associations. There she does analysis in housing finance, housing demand, housing costs and costs of construction. She also is in charge of international relations and represents the Austrian Federation in Housing Europe working groups. She is the author of numerous publications in the field of housing and also a lecturer at the Viennese University of Economics and Business Administration.

Brazil (Sao Paulo)

Ines da Silva Magalhães, former Minister of Cities, Brazil

Inês da Silva Magalhães is the former Minister of Cities of Brazil and previously held the post of National Secretary of Housing. A sociologist by training with a specialization in planning, Ms. da Silva Magalhães has more than 20 years of experience in the public sector in the areas of Housing, Urban Development, and Institutional Development. She has brought her knowledge and wealth of experience to various posts within the Ministry of Cities, including serving as Director of the Department for Urbanisation of Informal Settlements / Slum Upgrading between 2003 and 2005. In 2009, Ms. da Silva Magalhães led the largest slum upgrading and housing program in Brazil’s history, known as Minha Casa, Minha Vida.

Paulo Sandroni, Getulio Vargas Foundation

Paulo Henrique Sandroni is an economist who served as director of urban planning and public transportation for the City of São Paulo from 1988 to 1993, and for a short period he served the federal government as vice-minister of administration. He has published articles and books on economics, including a dictionary considered a primary reference on economics in Brazil. Sandroni is also a professor at the Economics and Business School at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo, a visiting professor at Institute of Housing Development Studies (IHS) in Erasmus University Rotterdam, a private consultant on urban development and transportation issues, and a lecturer in programs sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

China (Beijing)

James Shen, Principal & Founding Partner, People’s Architecture Office

Originally from Los Angeles, James Shen received his Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Bachelor of Science in Product Design from California State University, Long Beach. In 2010, James co-founded Beijing-based People’s Architecture Office (PAO), a multi-disciplinary studio focused on social impact through design. This award-winning practice is known for engaging in urban issues through designs that straddle architecture and product design. James developed the Courtyard House Plugin as a low-cost alternative for urban regeneration to serve Beijing’s central historic districts, areas that are characterized by slum conditions. The proprietary prefabricated building system quickly and efficiently upgrades dilapidated houses to modern living and energy standards without demolition and relocating people.

Canada (Vancouver)

Dan Garrison, Assistant Director of Housing Policy and Regulation, City of Vancouver

Dan Garrison is Assistant Director of Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability with the City of Vancouver where he leads the City’s Housing Policy and Regulation Division. Dan has worked on housing and homelessness issues in British Columbia for the past 20 years at the provincial, regional and municipal levels. For the last 12 years, Dan has lead the development of the City’s rental incentive and inclusionary housing programs, the 2012 Housing and Homelessness Strategy and most recently Housing Vancouver, the City’s new strategy to respond to the housing affordability crisis. Dan is a professional City Planner with a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Manitoba.

Colombia (Bogota)

Juan Felipe Pinilla, Land Use Attorney, JFP & Asociados

Juan Felipe is a lawyer from the Universidad de los Andes with a master’s degree in Territorial and Urban Policy from the Carlos III University of Madrid. His 15 years of professional experience has been focused on urban law issues. He has been a consultant in structuring land management instruments for urban projects for various agencies and public and private entities, such as: the University of the Andes, the National University of Colombia, the World Bank, the District Department of Planning of Bogotá, the Urban Renewal Company of Bogotá, Metrovivienda, the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory among others. He is currently a researcher and consultant on land policy, property, and urban law issues. He has published several articles in specialized publications on urban property issues, land management instruments and transformation of the Colombian urban system. He is professor of the Specialization in Urban Law, Property and Soil Policies of the Faculty of Law of the Universidad de los Andes.

Denmark (Copenhagen)

Gerti Axelsen, Head of Building & Development, Lejerbo

Gerti Axelsen is Head of Building & Development at Lejerbo, a large non-profit organization that administers, builds, and renovates social housing in Denmark. At Lejerbo, Gerti is responsible for developing and building approximately one thousand new affordable and attractive homes annually, as well as renovating and preserving the same amount of existing units each year. Throughout her career, Gerti has worked within the building sector—both in Denmark and on specific projects in Europe and Asia—and has practiced architecture in some of the most renowned offices in Denmark: 3XN, Henning Larsen Architects, and Vandkunsten, among others. She received her degree in Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen—where she has also served as lecturer—and is on the board of representatives for Realdania, the largest philanthropic fund for the built environment in Denmark.

Finland (Helsinki)

Juha Kaakinen, CEO, Y-Foundation

Juha Kaakinen is Chief Executive Officer of Y-Foundation, the biggest Finnish NGO, which acquires flats from the private market for homeless people and provides social housing. Mr. Kaakinen holds a Master of Arts from the University of Helsinki. His career began in the 1980s, when he worked as a social worker within Helsinki’s homeless service, later becoming a manager. From 1990 to 2011, he served as the CEO of Sosiaalikehitys Oy (Social Development Ltd), a Research and Development company owned by 11 municipalities. In 2008, his working group that he oversaw came up with the Housing First model, and for five years after its creation, he was Program Leader to the National Program. He is a member of the Administrative Council of FEANTSA and has written over 50 research papers, articles and evaluation reports on social services, employment projects and policies and homelessness issues.

Mexico (Mexico City)

Surella Segu, Co-Founder & Co-Director, El Cielo Architects

As an architect and urban designer based in Mexico City, Surella Segu focuses on urban renewal best practices and the use of interdisciplinary approaches to develop comprehensive and sustainable solutions to housing deficits in countries facing urban expansion. Segu was head of the Urban Development Department at Mexico’s Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers (Infonavit) since its creation in 2013 until the end of 2016. Faced with the challenge of setting up a new Urban Development Department, she developed a general strategy based on two lines of action. First, she generated practical research linked to both new and existing programs. Second, she designed and implemented urban renewal projects focused on capacity building at the municipal and community levels, including technical support for developing local urban plans. For the last four years, Segu has generated nationwide strategies and solutions to address the difficulties faced by inhabitants of mass-produced social housing neighborhoods: improving master plans, implementing urban renewal programs, developing tools to measure impact such as the Housing Deterioration Index, and involving Mexico’s top architects and urbanists in these efforts. She also generated programs to strengthen communal cohesion, and fostered research to understand the impact of community building activities, such as the effects of urban art on these settlements.

Singapore

Sock-Yong Phang, Vice Provost, Singapore Management University

Sock-Yong Phang is Vice Provost (Faculty Matters) and Celia Moh Chair Professor of Economics at the Singapore Management University. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Researcj on the Economics of Aging. Her research includes issues related to housing and transport economics, focusing on the impacts of government policies on these sectors. She is the author of three books, and has published dozens of papers on housing, transport, economic regulation and public private partnerships. Phang has served as consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and various government organizations in Asia on projects involving land and housing reforms, housing finance systems, motor vehicle polices, cost-benefit analysis for rail projects, appraisal frameworks for mega infrastructure as well as economic regulation of public transport and airports. In Singapore, Phang has previously served as board member of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Land Transport Authority, and the Public Transport Council. She was also a Commission Member of the Competition Commission of Singapore from 2005 to 2016. She is currently a board member of the Energy Market Authority and a trustee of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

United Kingdom (London)

James Clark, Head of Housing Strategy, Greater London Authority

James Clark is Head of Housing Strategy at the Greater London Authority (GLA), the regional government for London. The GLA consists of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the London Assembly. It is responsible for housing and planning policy, administration of the £4.2 billion London affordable homes programme, and the development of around 600 hectares of ex-industrial land. James is responsible for developing policies and strategies to deliver the Mayor’s housing priorities. Current Mayoral priorities include building a new generation of state-owned social housing, resisting the loss of existing affordable housing, and stepping up our interventions in the land market to improve affordability and quality.

With a special video message from:

Leilani Farha, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing

Leilani Farha is the special rapporteur on the right to housing, appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. During her time as Special Rapporteur, Leilani has presented reports to the UN on homelessness, the connection between the right to housing and the right to life, and the financialization of housing. She has traveled on official missions to Serbia and Kosovo, India and most recently to Chile, amongst others, to investigate and comment on the state of the right to housing. In addition to her requisite work, Leilani has used her platform to start The Shift, a global movement to reclaim and realize the right to housing, which calls for everyone to approach housing as a human right, not a commodity. Ms. Farha is also the executive director of Canada Without Poverty, an NGO based in Ottawa, Canada. A human rights lawyer by training, she has worked both internationally and domestically on the implementation of economic and social rights for the past 20 years.

United States

Katherine Levine Einstein, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Boston University

Katherine Levine Einstein is an assistant professor of political science at Boston University and the author, with Jennifer Hochschild, of Do Facts Matter? Information and Misinformation in Democratic Politics. Her research on local politics, American public policy, and racial/ethnic politics has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Perspectives on Politics, and the Urban Affairs Review. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Richard Gerwitz is Co-Head of Citi Community Capital 

Richard Gerwitz is Co-Head of Citi Community Capital, the community development lending and investing division of Citi, with over 35 years of experience in the tax-exempt securities and real estate markets. He began his career with Merrill Lynch in 1978 as a municipal securities analyst, subsequently moving into the investment banking division. In 1984 Mr. Gerwitz was retained to help start the municipal securities division at Security Pacific National Bank. In 1992 Mr. Gerwitz left the bank and negotiated the formation, and became president of a real estate limited partnership whose partners were the Ford Motor Company and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The partnership was funded with more than $1 billion in performing and non-performing real estate assets designated for liquidation. He returned to the tax-exempt bond investment banking industry in the late 1990s when he joined Citi Community Capital, formerly known as Newman & Associates, focusing exclusively on the financing of affordable multifamily rental housing.

In Richard’s role as Co-Head of Citi Community Capital he directs the activities of the unit’s affordable rental housing lending, mortgage and investment banking team, as well as its involvement with Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) and other Community Reinvestment Act lending and investment activities. His credit training has resulted in his being named a Senior Credit Officer (SCO) of Citigroup, and he is a voting member of Citi Community Capital’s credit committees.

David Glick, Associate Professor of Political Science, Boston University

David Glick is an associate professor of political science at Boston University. His research into topics related to the U.S. Supreme Court, public opinion, public policy, and local government has been published in journals such as: the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, the Quarterly Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Political Behavior, Public Opinion Quarterly, American Politics Research, and the Journal of Theoretical Politics. His work has been recognized with awards from the American Political Science Association and the Western Political Science Association.

George McCarthy, President & CEO, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Dr. George “Mac” McCarthy is President and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Lincoln Institute seeks to improve quality of life through the effective use, taxation, and stewardship of land. A nonprofit private operating foundation whose origins date to 1946, the Lincoln Institute researches and recommends creative approaches to land as a solution to economic, social, and environmental challenges. Before joining the Lincoln Institute in 2014, Mac directed Metropolitan Opportunity at the Ford Foundation which sought to provide disadvantaged people better access to good jobs and other opportunities for advancement by supporting regional planning, and coordinated transportation and housing development to alleviate poverty and reduce its concentration in metropolitan areas in the U.S. and developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Before taking that position, Mac administered a program at Ford that focused on using homeownership to build assets for low-income families and their communities. Before joining Ford, Mac worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mac has worked as Professor of Economics at Bard College, Resident Scholar at the Jerome Levy Economics Institute, Visiting Scholar and Member of the High Table at King’s College of Cambridge University, Visiting Scholar at the University of Naples, Italy, and Research Associate at the Centre for Social Research in St. Petersburg, Russia. Mac received a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics at the University of Montana; an M.A. in Economics at Duke University; and, a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Maxwell Palmer, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Boston University

Maxwell Palmer is an assistant professor of political science at Boston University and a Junior Faculty Fellow at the Hariri Institute for Computing. His work on Congress, the judiciary, redistricting, and local political institutions has been published in journals including American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, American Politics Research, and Social Science History.

Enrique Silva, Director of International and Institute-Wide Initiatives, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Enrique R. Silva is the director of International and Institute-Wide Initiatives (i3) at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. He is responsible for the identification and oversight of new initiatives that leverage the Lincoln Institute’s existing resources and expand its presence globally. Silva currently oversees global campaigns on municipal fiscal health and land value capture, which include a range of research, educational, and outreach activities. He also helps develop and lead the research portfolio on land policy and urbanization in Latin America. Both for i3 and other programs, Silva collaborates on the development and management of initiatives that focus on a range of themes from land-based fiscal instruments and the fiscal and land policy dimensions of large-scale urban projects to planning regimes and climate change adaptation. He is also working with national and local authorities in South Africa on a range of activities promoting the use of land based financial tools to finance urban development and inclusionary housing projects. Silva also teaches a course on urban governance and the politics of planning at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Prior to his arrival at the Lincoln Institute, Silva was an assistant professor of city planning and urban affairs and the program coordinator for the graduate programs in city planning and urban affairs at Boston University. Silva holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley; a master’s of science in planning from the University of Toronto; and a bachelor of arts in political science from Columbia University.

David A. Smith, Founder & CEO, Affordable Housing Institute

David A. Smith is the founder and CEO of the Affordable Housing Institute, which develops sustainable housing financial ecosystems worldwide. With more than 30 years direct experience in affordable housing, David uniquely combines the roles of practitioner and theoretician, participant and policymaker. His work as an international housing finance policy advisor/ program developer encompasses projects on Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, India, Ireland, Kenya, Middle East, Panama, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Turkey, and United Kingdom, and he is a much sought-after speaker on affordable housing issues around the world. In the USA, David provides high-quality analysis to Congress, the Millennial Housing Commission, CBO, HUD, and others, and was a principal member of the 1996 Senate mark-to-market working group. A 1975 Harvard graduate, he is an award-winning author with more than 100 published articles in real estate, valuation, and policy periodicals, and a textbook, as well as an influential blog.