MAUREEN FREEHILL HAS SPENT HER 17+ YEAR CAREER IN THE FIELD OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING WITH A PASSION TO PROVIDE HOUSING PROGRAMS, AND SERVICES THAT BREAK THE CYCLE OF INTER-GENERATIONAL POVERTY.
Maureen began her career as a Section 8 caseworker and Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) certification specialist with Rural Ulster Preservation Company in upstate New York. She then went on to start the organization’s scattered site supportive housing program, renovate their Family Self-Sufficiency Program tripling the number of families moving to economic independence and home ownership, and finally lead their Neighborworks home ownership center providing assistance to first time home buyers, foreclosure counseling, and administration of local allocation HOME and CDBG programs for down payment and rehabilitation.
From there she served as Special Needs Housing Policy Analyst for New York State Homes and Community Renewal (NYS DHCR), generating the Nursing Home Transition and Diversion Housing (NHTD)Subsidy Program as a response to the Supreme Court Olmstead decision. This program won the 2009 National Council of State Housing Authorities (NCSHA) award for innovation in special needs housing. The NHTD program provides a bridge to Section 8 subsidy to enable institutionalized individuals to move into community- based housing of their choice while receiving needed Medicaid support services. In that role she also served as liaison to a number of inter-agency committees and working groups designed to support special needs groups of all stripes to access affordable housing opportunities as well as performed presentation and training on NHTD and other NYS supportive housing initiatives statewide. Maureen then served as one of 2 program mangers assigned to NYS Neighborhood Stabilization Programs(NSP 1&3) with a focus on serving single family rehabilitation north of New York City.
After moving to Atlanta in 2012 Maureen began work as a LIHTC developer with NorSouth Development executing 2-3 projects new construction projects per year utilizing LIHTC, HOME, and public and private partnerships to provide housing opportunities in the Atlanta Metro area. As Senior Project Manager for Walton Communities she oversaw the Affordable Housing pipeline, focused on Public Housing redevelopment in Gainesville, Augusta, and Villa Rica, Georgia as well as new construction in partnership with Marietta Housing Authority.
A cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at New Paltz, she was identified as one of the Young Leaders in Affordable Housing, by the New York Housing Conference and served on the Young Leadership Council. Currently she serves as a Board Director with the Georgia Supportive Housing Association, and Room Parent at Turning Sun Preschool.