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Faced with a once in a century pandemic, New York received over half a billion dollars in Federal Homeowner Assistance Funding from the US Treasury to stabilize New York families. The pandemic brought job loss, income loss, severe medical problems and debt – all primary drivers of foreclosure and home loss. What can we learn from how this historic program stabilized New Yorkers? Given what we learned from previous catalytic capital interventions for homeowners – like the NYS Mortgage Assistance Program (MAP) – what could a future program look like and achieve for individuals and communities?
Chantella Mitchell is the Program Officer for Community Development, Housing, and Human Services at the New York Community Trust. She manages the Trust’s grantmaking for initiatives to increase affordable housing, create economic opportunities for residents of low-income neighborhoods, and alleviate hunger, homelessness, and poverty. Before working at the Trust, Chantella was an executive director in the Office of Development at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation (HPD), where she managed the agency’s loan programs for one- to four-family homeowners. Prior to that role, she worked as a director of operations at HPD and a senior budget analyst at the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Before beginning her career in public service, Chantella worked in both direct service and policy advocacy roles. Chantella is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and moved to New York City in 2013. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University.
Dina Levy is Senior Vice President of Single Family and Community Development responsible for the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA), Office of Community Renewal, and Faith-Based Initiatives. Prior to joining HCR, Dina served as Director of Community Impact and Innovation for Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman where she was senior advisor to the Attorney General on negotiations of multi-billion-dollar bank settlements and oversaw relationships with state and national stakeholders. Prior to that, she was Special Assistant to the Attorney General. Before joining the AG’s Office, Dina worked for the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) where she served as Director of Organizing, building strategic coalitions to preserve, expand and improve the quality of affordable housing across New York City.
Johanna Lopez is the Director of Homeowner Services at The Housing Council at PathStone. Ms. Lopez has worked for The Housing Council at PathStone for 15 years. Ms. Lopez spent 6 years as a Bilingual Intake Specialist with rental and the Foreclosure Prevention program before becoming a Foreclosure Prevention Counselor. Ms. Lopez holds HUD certification in Homeownership and Reverse Mortgage Counseling. Her experience includes coordinating the Housing Hotline, providing housing education and counseling to property owners, tenants and homeowners.
Andrew has worked with Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A’s Consumer and Economic Advocacy Unit as a staff attorney and legal consultant since 2014. He has handled hundreds of foreclosure cases in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, helping individual homeowners overcome financial hardships and legal pressures to protect their homes from foreclosure. Andrew has also assisted with tax audits and offers in compromise in the Low Income Tax Clinic. He holds a JD from University of Miami School of Law, and is admitted to the bars of New York State and the Federal Eastern District of New York.
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