by Jenna Connolly | Mar 20, 2025 | Housing News
Last summer, CHAPA announced the Musicant Cohen Family Fund’s generous $1 million gift to launch the new CHAPA Housing Policy Action Center. Today, we’re pleased to name Jennifer Gilbert as the first Musicant Cohen Executive Director of the Center.
Jennifer brings more than 25 years of experience in the affordable housing field as a developer, manager, funder, planning board member, grant-maker, and technologist.
“CHAPA’s Housing Policy Action Center will become a critical, permanent part of the housing policy ecosystem and Jennifer is primed to spearhead this effort. Under her leadership, this new research center will build on CHAPA’s long history of affordable housing advocacy to develop the next generation of housing policies that will put Massachusetts on the path to a bright future,” stated Howard Cohen.
From 2018-2025, Jennifer founded and led Housing Navigator Massachusetts, Inc., taking a Tech for Good nonprofit from an idea to a nationally-recognized, free 24/7 affordable housing search tool with 35,000+ users each month.
Before Housing Navigator MA, Jennifer was the Executive Director of the Kuehn Charitable Foundation, launching its practice-based Kuehn Fellows program now in its sixth round with 29 alumni Fellows. She further guided over $3 million in investments in affordable housing and historic preservation. You can find Jennifer’s full bio on CHAPA’s website.
Jennifer’s proven leadership will establish CHAPA’s Housing Policy Action Center as a leading institution bringing research and real-world experience together to advance the future of housing policy in Massachusetts. This research will inform and shape CHAPA’s policy agenda, advancing a thriving Commonwealth where everyone has a safe, healthy, and affordable home in the community they choose.
Please join us in welcoming Jennifer to the CHAPA team and stay tuned for updates on the Center’s work!
by Jenna Connolly | Feb 19, 2025 | Press
As Heller puts it, “There’s been a lot of good policies that have been put in place over thelast few years. And we need more.”
by Jenna Connolly | Feb 19, 2025 | Press
“We have generational wealth being created by those who had access to homeownership,”Gasser said. “And all the economic benefit that comes from that system perpetuates itself,and unless you’re going to create the supply necessary to create affordable new entrypoints, it’s going to be very difficult to narrow the racial homeownership gap.”
by Jenna Connolly | Feb 13, 2025 | Press
“It’s a very holistic look at what we need to move forward,” said Jenna Connolly, director of communications and events at the Citizens’ Housing & Planning Association. “It doesn’t just focus on one part of the industry. It really just lays out like this is everything we need in order to have the future we want for Massachusetts.”
by Jenna Connolly | Feb 7, 2025 | Featured News, Housing News
A result of more than a year of engagement with stakeholders and the work of the Housing Advisory Committee, Governor Healey released A Home for Everyone: Massachusetts’ Statewide Housing Plan on February 6. A priority for CHAPA, the Affordable Homes Act included a requirement that the Commonwealth develop a statewide housing plan every five years. The Healey-Driscoll Administration launched this process in October 2023 following the filing of the Housing Bond Bill.
The new plan outlines the housing challenges facing Massachusetts, identifies current unmet housing needs, sets goals for production and preservation, and proposes strategies to address the situation. This publication will be followed by others, including expanded needs assessments and strategies.
CHAPA joined the other leaders of the Supportive Housing Pipeline Coalition, a coalition of more than 80 member organizations dedicated to creating the supportive housing needed to address chronic and high-need homelessness, in issuing a statement in support of A Home for Everyone.
Here is the quote from CHAPA CEO Rachel Heller included in the statement:
“The solution to homelessness is housing that is affordable and housing that provides supportive services. We applaud the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Housing Plan, which sets the Commonwealth on a path to create and preserve the homes needed to reduce and prevent homelessness, expand housing that is accessible for people with disabilities, and provide opportunities for everyone to have safe and healthy homes they can afford in the communities they choose. This plan identifies strategies for creating the diversity of housing needed to meet our wide ranging needs, including supportive housing, public housing, and deeply affordable housing.”
