Jane Graf, president and CEO of Mercy Housing, announced that she will retire in 2020.
The longtime affordable housing leader has had a 32-year career with the nonprofit organization, serving as its top executive since 2014. Before that, she served for three years as COO and then president, where she oversaw regional offices covering 22 states. Earlier in her career, Graf served as president of Mercy Housing California.
During her tenure in California, she played a critical role in helping the organization adapt to significant growth by presiding over three organizational mergers that expanded the reach of Mercy Housing statewide and greatly expanded the affordable housing portfolio across the state.
Officials noted that Graf comes from a special generation of affordable housing advocates whose careers started before the creation of the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), the federal program that was created in 1986 and has become the nation’s most important financing tool to develop and preserve affordable housing.
Graf began her career in nonprofit development in Oregon in 1978 through her involvement in housing issues affecting persons with disabilities. In 1981, she founded Specialized Housing, a nonprofit housing development corporation that serves persons with developmental disabilities throughout Oregon.
In 1987, Graf joined Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Francisco as director of housing development and doubled production of affordable housing over the next six years. In that same year, she was responsible for the development of one of the first LIHTC properties in San Francisco, Peter Claver Community.
“We celebrate Jane’s many accomplishments and her decades of leadership service to Mercy Housing,” said Sister Linda Werthman, RSM, chair of the board of trustees of Mercy Housing. “Jane’s career has been deeply committed to social justice, and she has made an indelible impact on the affordable housing industry. Under her leadership, the organization has grown revenues and profitability, and created a sustainable nonprofit that is well-positioned for the future. Let this be the first of many expressions of gratitude for all that Jane has accomplished for low-income families across the country.”
Headquartered in Denver, Mercy Housing is one of the nation’s top developers and owners of affordable housing. It owns and operates more than 23,000 units of affordable housing and serves tens of thousands of people with low incomes, including families, seniors, veterans, people who have experienced homelessness, and people with disabilities.