William C. Kelly, Jr.
President, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF)
William C. Kelly, Jr. is President and a Co-Founder of Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF). SAHF is a peer group of nine of the largest social enterprise nonprofits who provide affordable rental housing for vulnerable populations, including seniors, special needs individuals, low-income families, and the formerly homeless. SAHF members operate in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, providing homes to approximately 90,000 low-income households. Formed in 2003, SAHF draws upon its members’ practical experiences in developing, maintaining, and preserving affordable housing to inform the design and implementation of federal housing policy proposals. As part of its effort to preserve the viability of affordable housing, SAHF seeks to reduce both utility bills and carbon emissions. To that end, it is working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Energy (DOE), and Congress to develop financing mechanisms and policy proposals to retrofit affordable multifamily properties.
Prior to SAHF’s launch, Kelly was a partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins for 25 years. He was the co-founder of the Washington office, chair of the D.C. Finance and Real Estate Department, and long-time member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee, having joined the firm after serving as Executive Assistant to the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. His practice focused on multifamily housing, commercial real estate, and infrastructure finance. At the start of his career, he served as a law clerk for both U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Frank Coffin (1971-72) and Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell (1972-73).
A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Kelly serves on the Boards of Directors of Ashoka Innovators for the Public, the International Senior Lawyers Project, and the Governance Institute. He was awarded a Purpose Prize Fellowship, which recognizes leaders over 60 who have launched second careers innovating in the social sector, the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award from the D.C. Bar, the National Public Service Award from the American Bar Association’s Section on Business Law, and the Michael S. Sher Award from the Forum on Housing and Community Development Law. He was also named a “Friend of the Elderly” by the Retirement Housing Foundation and was Peter Muller Visiting Professor at Georgetown University.
Contact: bkelly@sahfnet.org or call
Richard Samson
President, SAHF Energy (a division of SAHF)
Rick Samson is president of SAHF Energy, a division of SAHF focused on developing government policies and programs that promote energy efficiency among the members while making available to members a variety of energy services such as benchmarking, auditing, renewable energy, and energy retrofits to existing properties. Immediately prior to joining SAHF, he served as a consultant for Genworth Financial Europe analyzing its single family mortgage insurance portfolio. Rick’s experience includes being a founder and principal of the Federal Practice Group a Washington-based consulting firm providing affordable housing and real estate related services to Federal departments and agencies such as HUD, USDA, VA and DOD. Earlier experience includes being a partner at Coopers & Lybrand (now Price Waterhouse Coopers), counsel and director to the Denver regional office of the Federal Asset Disposition Association and counsel and a principal in a regional real estate development company. A graduate of Colby College and the University of Maine Law School, Rick was a law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Contact: rsamson@sahfnet.org or call
Toby Halliday
Executive Vice President, SAHF
Toby Halliday leads SAHF’s policy initiatives and oversees SAHF’s management and operations. He previously served as Vice President for Federal Policy at the National Housing Trust (NHT) – a SAHF member organization – for over three years, where he worked with Congressional and HUD leadership to promote the preservation and improvement of affordable rental housing. Prior to joining NHT, Toby was Program Director for Affordable Housing Preservation at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), where he provided support to nonprofit developers purchasing affordable housing properties.
Contact: thalliday@sahfnet.org or call 202-737-5973
Bonnie Temple
Counsel, SAHF
Bonnie Temple, a member of the D.C. Bar, has many years experience in private law practice, most recently specializing in representing developers and owners of multifamily properties that receive rental subsidy or mortgage assistance under federal and state affordable housing programs. She also has practiced in commercial and multi-family residential real estate, corporate and partnership law, and project finance. She earned a B.A. from Radcliffe College/Harvard University, a master's degree in urban planning from New York University, and a J.D. degree from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she was an editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.
Contact: btemple@sahfnet.org or call
Clare Duncan
Program and Policy Associate
Clare Duncan is the program and policy associate at Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF). Clare manages peer networks for SAHF's twelve members and supports SAHF's policy initiatives. Before coming to SAHF, Clare was the policy associate at the National Housing Conference, where she convened NHC members on a broad range of affordable housing issues including foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization, energy efficiency and the intersection of housing and transportation policy. Before NHC, Clare assisted Texas State Senator Judith Zaffirini on her Health and Human Services legislation during the 2009 Texas session and worked for the Texas Association of Community Development Corporations on their policy and research efforts. Clare is a graduate of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin, where she received a Master in Public Affairs. She also holds a B.A. in sociology from the University of Notre Dame.
Contact: cduncan@sahfnet.org or call 202-737-5974
Rebecca Schaaf
Vice President, SAHF Energy
Rebecca joined SAHF in February 2011 and supports the operations of the three energy demonstration projects: the DOE-funded Energy Performance Contracting demonstration, the HUD-funded EZ Retrofit program, and the California On-Bill Repayment demonstration being implemented with support from Living Cities and the MacArthur Foundation. She also supports SAHF’s other energy work, such as the energy business planning effort with Enterprise Community Partners and SAHF’s initiative around solar thermal hot water systems. Prior to joining SAHF, Rebecca supported energy efficiency programs in China, Russia, and Ukraine at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Joint Global Change Research Institute and worked on a variety of program areas as a Program Officer for CHF International. Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from New College of Florida and a Master of Community Planning degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Contact: rschaaf@sahfnet.org or call 202-737-5984
Felipe Witchger
Program Associate, SAHF Energy
Felipe Witchger manages SAHF's HUD Energy Innovation Fund grant to develop an "EZ Retrofit Tool" for affordable multifamily properties. He also contributes to several of SAHF's other pioneering energy initiatives. Felipe has a background in energy efficiency, electricity markets, and environmental policy. Prior to joining SAHF, Felipe worked at Groundswell where he led a $5 million regional energy purchasing initiative, facilitated energy efficiency projects in commercial buildings, and assisted in program development with DC’s innovative Sustainable Energy Utility. Before Groundswell, Felipe worked as an energy consultant and researcher with IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. He holds a bachelor's degree in Energy Studies and Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
Contact: fwitchger@sahfnet.org or call 202-737-5981
Barbara Hall
Office Manager, SAHF
Contact: bhall@sahfnet.org or call 202-737-5976
SAHF LAW CLERKS
Kirsten Fraser