Affordable Housing Finance recently inducted three longtime industry pioneers into the Affordable Housing Hall of Fame.
Anne Segrest McCulloch, Diana McIver, and John Parvensky were recognized at AHF Live: The 2021 Affordable Housing Developers Summit in Chicago earlier this month.
McCulloch has had a distinguished career at the Housing Partnership Equity Trust, Fannie Mae, and other housing organizations. She was recently named executive vice president and chief legal officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.
“Early in my career I was speaking with (Mercy Housing's) Sister Lillian Murphy, one of my predecessors in this honor and a real leader to all of us. She said, ‘If you think you know what you’re doing in affordable housing, you’re wrong because every year you have to reinvent the tools that you’re using in order to get the results you want,’” recalled McCulloch at the induction ceremony. “My career has been about that, about bringing new tools to solve old problems in affordable housing.”
As president of DMA Cos., McIver has developed affordable, special-needs, and mixed-income housing for more than 2,500 families with 500 more doors opening this fall. In addition, she’s had a hand in creating thousands of more homes as a consultant and advocate.
“The issues we have, what we do as developers, and what you invest in is not a partisan issue. It is about people,” McIver said. “It is about their lives and how we give them a hand up. My mission, and I hope it’s your mission too, as we go through the next few years is to really work on this bipartisan housing issue and get us to where we need with these programs. I’m excited about what’s going on right now, but I’m really excited about the future.”
President and CEO of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Parvensky has dedicated his career to creating groundbreaking affordable housing developments and providing essential health services to those most in need.
“I would encourage you all to look at supporting organizations and opportunities that focus on the lowest-income and most vulnerable families and individuals in our communities,” he said. “While most developments have their challenges, there’s nothing, nothing, more exciting and rewarding than putting together a project that provides not only a quality roof over somebody’s head but creates community and enhances health one step at a time, one family at a time, one individual at a time.”
