Since her first post-college job at a Philadelphia homeless shelter, Jennifer Gilbert has worked to make more housing and make housing more accessible. Her 25+ years of experience have lent her the opportunity to “sit” at multiple seats around the housing table: developer, manager, funder, government, planning board member, grant-maker, technologist.

From 2018-2025, she 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. Under her leadership, Navigator debuted statewide and town-by-town Housing Supply Dashboards — a first for transparency about the Massachusetts affordable housing supply – that enable data-driven policy to identify gaps and increase housing production. Housing Navigator MA data is cited regularly in local press, planning meetings,research, and advocacy.

Prior to founding Housing Navigator MA, Jennifer was the initial 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. Earlier in her career, she spent 15 years as development and strategy consultant with a national practice overseeing complex, mission-driven real estate development projects fostering the creation of 1000+ units of affordable housing, arts spaces, early education centers, and a health clinic in partnership with Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Jennifer holds an MCP from MIT, a JD from Northeastern University where she was a Skadden Fellow for Public Interest Law, and BA magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. She stays involved in her local community through recent service on the City of Cambridge’s Charter Review Committee (2022-2024) and Alewife Zoning Advisory Group.