The Housing Practice Group at Navigate includes senior and executive staff as well as associated professionals.
Because our housing experts have spent so much time in the industry, we are able to offer you over 200 years of combined experience in every aspect of public housing. The Navigate team possesses a strength and depth of affordable housing compliance, and we also have operations experience that few consultants in the nation can match.
Navigate team members include:
- Lisa M. McCarroll, Chief Executive Officer
- Julie L. Reynolds, Chief Operating Officer
- Tom Gerundo, Contract Administration Coordinator, Connecticut
- Nate Greathree, Contract Administration Coordinator, Mississippi
- Tim Shearer, Contract Administration Coordinator, Virginia
- Vickie D. Bell, Corporate Training and Education Specialist
Affordable Housing
Originally incorporated on February 13, 1980 as the Jefferson County Assisted Housing Corporation. Navigate is a legal instrumentality of the Jefferson County Housing Authority. Navigate was originally formed to pursue funding under HUD’s Section 8 New Construction Program for 100 units of elderly and disabled housing in Tarrant, Alabama. With the first 100 units completed in 1982, Spring Gardens now consists of 244 units including 100 financed by one of the first Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects in Alabama. Phases III and IV were financed by HOME funds provided by Jefferson County, Alabama. A $3 million community center was recently completed on the property. Residents can access a full array of social and community services in this new, state-of-the-art facility.
Navigate was the first public entity to sign a contract with HUD’s Office of Multi-Family Housing Assistance Restructuring (now OAHP) to be the Participating Administrative Entity (PAE) in Alabama. Through its role as PAE in Alabama, Navigate has been instrumental in the preservation of some 2500 units of affordable housing in Alabama.
Through a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a joint venture of Navigate and the Jefferson County Housing Authority provides Section 8 Contract Administration Services to approximately 60,000 units of affordable housing in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Connecticut and Virginia. With a total budget of over $450 million, Navigate activities are administered by approximately 55 employees from offices in Birmingham, Alabama, Richmond, Virginia, Jackson, Mississippi and Hartford, Connecticut.
Public Housing
The management team at Navigate Affordable Housing Partners has extensive knowledge of public housing authorities. Our CEO, Eric Q. Strong, is well known in the state of Alabama for his innovative and collaborative ideas. As example, he brought multiple housing authorities together to combine capital funds in order to leverage the money through an award-winning bond issue.
Navigate has also won several consulting/training contracts with housing authorities for the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program and compliance issues.
HUD continues to reduce funding to housing authorities. Based on HUD’s initiatives which include the RAD program, HUD is trying to move public housing funding to Section 8. Housing authorities simply cannot continue to operate in the current manner and survive these changes. Your staff needs to learn how to leverage their properties to fund capital needs, market the properties to a larger clientele, and run the organization like a business, not a government agency.