Heather’s leadership has expanded affordable housing access across the D.C. region

ARLINGTON, VA (April 28, 2023) – Today, APAH announced that Heather Raspberry will be its 2023 Affordable Housing Honoree to be celebrated at the organization’s annual Celebrate Home! benefit in October. Ms. Raspberry, the Executive Director of the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND), is being recognized for her commitment to expanding affordable housing in the Capital Region in and between Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Richmond.

Since her appointment in 2012, HAND has strategically grown the scale and depth of its programming and advocacy. HAND aims to empower its members to operationalize racial equity, disrupt systems that perpetuate inequity, and catalyze impact for the communities they serve. Ms. Raspberry leads HAND’s strategic, financial, and administrative operations with innovative thinking and strong coalition building across sectors and jurisdictions. Under her leadership, in 2020, HAND developed and released the region’s Housing Indicator Tool (HIT) to provide affordable housing stakeholders with a dashboard that measures progress toward meeting regional housing needs.

Carmen Romero, APAH’s President and CEO, expressed, “The impact of Heather’s leadership at HAND cannot be overstated. Tools like HIT support APAH’s efforts to embed racial equity into our work. Our partnership has deepened APAH’s commitment to our residents and helped us elevate resident voices. I am so proud to honor my colleague and friend at this year’s Celebrate Home! benefit and join with all of you who help ensure that everyone has a place to call home, a foundation to live their dreams.”

Ms. Raspberry stated, “Being recognized at Celebrate Home! is a deep honor. I have been connected to APAH’s work for many years and am grateful to witness its evolution and growth into a regional provider. HAND has enabled many organizations to disrupt systems of inequity that plague housing access and opportunity for far too many families, particularly communities of color. Each of us has a critical role in creating these thriving communities that set families on a pathway to opportunity, and I look forward to joining all of you to celebrate our collective progress toward that end.”

This year’s Celebrate Home! benefit will be held Wednesday, October 18 from 5 PM to 8 PM at Capital One Hall in Tysons, VA. The event brings together members of the community, elected officials, and leaders in the housing, real estate, nonprofit, and finance industries. To learn more about the event or view sponsorship opportunities, please visit apah.org/events or email events@apah.org.

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About APAH

Founded in 1989, APAH helps more than 2,300 households live in stable, secure, affordable rental homes. APAH has nearly 400 affordable apartments under construction and an additional 1,500 in its development pipeline. As a CORES Certified Resident Services provider, APAH delivers comprehensive services to youth, families, and seniors across its 20 properties. APAH was named one of the nation’s Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2019 by Affordable Housing Finance magazine. The organization was named 2021 Developer of the Year by the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND). In 2022, APAH’s Queens Court Apartments received HAND’s Best Large Affordable Housing Project award and the Urban Land Institute’s inaugural Terwilliger Center Award for Innovation in Attainable Housing. Lucille and Bruce Terwilliger Place was named Best Affordable Housing Development at the 2022 Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference and received a Multi-Family Residential Award of Excellence at the Best of NAIOP Northern Virginia Awards 2022.