Mission Success: Combining Passion With the Need to Improve Communities

 

While doing an urban studies program as an undergrad in Chicago in 1999, Jewell Walton used to commute to the city from the suburbs. One day, she saw a public housing building being torn down, an image that stuck with her forever. Later, she went to grad school to study urban planning and development, and after spending a decade managing affordable housing projects at a consulting company, she ultimately landed a director role at the Chicago Housing Authority. That experience is proving extremely valuable in her current role as vice president of public partnerships with Evergreen Real Estate Group.   

In this Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast episode, Walton talks to Multi-Housing News Senior Editor Laura Calugar about her 20-year career, how she learned to deal with stigma surrounding affordable housing and where opportunities lie in the sector. Tune in now!

Here’s a snip of what Walton and Calugar discuss:

• Why Walton chose to work in affordable housing (0:49)
• Her role at Evergreen (3:18)
• The most difficult part of her job (6:04)
• Cutting through red tape (7:43)
• What’s key to a successful affordable housing cross-sector collaboration? (11:15)
• Where do opportunities lie in the affordable housing sector? (13:08)
• Overcoming NIMBYism (16:25)
• What’s at stake for the affordable housing sector in the upcoming elections (19:27)
• Walton’s view on how to quickly provide viable housing alternatives (21:43)
• Maintaining a good work-life balance when working in affordable housing (24:11)

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