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Eastern Bank Foundation Welcomes Ann Houston as Foundation Fellow for Affordable Housing

Longtime champion in subsidized housing, multi-income neighborhood development, community engagement and resident wrap-around services to promote safe and affordable housing in underserved communities

BOSTON, MA February 29, 2024 – Eastern Bank Foundation (EBF), the philanthropic arm of Eastern Bank, is pleased to announce Ann Houston as a Foundation Fellow focused on working with organizations to secure safe and affordable housing as a key part of EBF’s work to support economic inclusion and mobility in the region. Ms. Houston brings over forty years of experience and passion in creating and managing affordable housing neighborhoods, helping underserved residents access more sustainable rental housing and homeownership opportunities, reducing displacement, and providing wrap-around services for residents.

Each Foundation Fellow contributes deep expertise to further EBF’s aim to create systemic change along four strategy areas, including affordable housing. The other three strategies are advancing equity in the small business ecosystem,  promoting workforce development that leads to family-sustaining wages, and enriching early childhood development. Together, these strategies work to provide a multi-faceted approach to help individuals, families, and communities to prosper. 

“Home is more than a roof overhead… it’s an anchor for well-being and a launching point to where we work, run a business, and plug into our community and schools. It is often an important way to build intergenerational wealth as well,” said Nancy Huntington Stager, President & CEO of Eastern Bank Foundation. “Ann deeply understands the holistic and systemic issues faced by people who experience housing insecurity, and she will be instrumental in working with fellow change makers to apply innovative yet practical solutions given her expertise across affordable, workforce, mixed-income, and elderly housing.”

As former Executive Director of Neighborhood Developers, Ms. Houston expanded the organization’s portfolio and assets exponentially in sustainable neighborhoods – to over 600 units and $100MM respectively – while providing wrap-around services to residents and surrounding communities. She is also well-versed in working across nonprofit organizations, private developers, and municipalities for success, helping permit over 2,000 units of affordable housing in her former role as Director of Community Assistance for the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Fund. Earlier in her career, Ms. Houston was Director of Development for Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation working on award-winning sustainable and energy efficient homes and spearheading service-enriched senior housing developments.

Immediately prior to joining EBF, Ms. Houston founded and served as CEO for Opportunity Communities, helping member’s increase their affordable housing portfolios and project pipelines by up to 200%. She also built a pilot to create intergenerational wealth through homeownership for people of color and launched a 2-year fellowship to bring more early-career people of color into real estate development. 

“Right now in Massachusetts, we are seeing an unprecedented call to create more plentiful and affordable permanent housing and a better understanding that this is a crucial part of how our neighbors, neighborhoods, and economy will grow and prosper… or not,” said Ann Houston. “I’m very excited to be a part of Eastern Bank Foundation, an organization that is fully committed to working across sectors to help advance systemic change around affordable housing and to integrate the adjacent social justice drivers like building equity for small businesses, providing high-quality, affordable child care, and enhancing workforce development. These elements working together can really help move the needle for our neighbors.”

Always seeking to create change and connect with the community in multiple ways, Ms. Houston served for 25 years as a CHAPA Board member including a term as President, spent 14 years on the Board of MA Housing Investment Corporation, and is the current Chair of the Newton Affordable Housing Trust.

About Eastern Bank Foundation
Eastern Bank Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Eastern Bank, actively listens to and partners with our neighbors and fellow change-makers across nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors to further community vibrancy and promote systems change. We invest with community-led organizations working to build economic inclusion, mobility and social justice in four strategy areas – advancing equity in the small business ecosystem, enriching early childhood development, securing safe and affordable housing, and promoting workforce development for adults facing barriers to employment. Knowing the roots of social and economic injustice are as stubborn as they are old, we employ a variety of levers –Philanthropy, Employee Volunteerism, Advocacy and Collaboration – to lift up and rise with our communities, especially in our region’s Gateway Cities. Learn more here.

Media contact:
Jennifer McNeil
Eastern Bank Foundation
[email protected]
508-380-2902

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