Affordable housing finance and development
Claire Parisa is a lecturer in City and Regional Planning and an industry expert in national and California affordable housing finance and development. As the director of acquisitions for Enterprise Community Partners, Claire helps developers secure private investment through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to build new and rehabilitate existing affordable housing in Northern California and Oregon. In her role at Enterprise, Claire also serves as an advocate for affordable housing by supporting initiatives for increased public funding and streamlined regulation.
Prior to joining Enterprise, Claire served as a vice president of acquisitions at Red Stone Equity, an associate director at the California Housing Partnership, and a project manager at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC). Claire has experience with federal and various state LIHTC programs, tax-exempt bond financing, and state/local funding programs throughout the U.S. During her tenure in the field, Claire has secured over $3 billion in funding to create or preserve over 6,000 affordable homes. Claire has also trained over 2,500 individuals across multiple topics ranging from basic housing finance to complex LIHTC partnership tax structuring. Before turning to domestic affordable housing development, Claire worked with self-built communities across Latin America on housing rights and economic development as well as with various domestic cooperative housing initiatives. She believes deeply in the power of a stable home and access to upward mobility for all.
Claire earned her Master in City Planning (MCP) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Society & Environment from the University of California, Berkeley. Claire is an appointed member of the City of Piedmont Housing Advisory Committee (HAC) advising the city on updating the housing element and providing technical housing development expertise. She is also a proud member of the Piedmont Racial Equity Campaign (PREC). Previously, Claire served on NPH’s Emerging Leaders Peer Network (ELPN) Steering Committee as a Professional Development Subcommittee co-chair from 2017–2019.
CYPLAN 235: Methods of Project Analysis
CP 238: Development-Design Studio