Affordable Housing Development Competition Participants

Each year, the competition attracts a dedicated group of student coordinators, development organizations, and mentors who can be valuable resources to students who are participating. Please refer to the information below about forming a team, to see who’s participating, and learn about developers and design and finance mentors who previously participated.

Student Coordinators & How to Form a Team

The following student coordinators are the main points of contact for participants throughout the 2026 Affordable Housing Development Competition:

Freya Johnsen
University of Massachusetts
Lilly Saniel-Banrey
Harvard University
Graduate School of Design

Below is some important information about how to form a team.

There are no specific educational or professional credentials required to participate in the Affordable Housing Development Competition. Graduate students of diverse backgrounds are encouraged to compete. Students with educational or professional experience in design, planning, public policy, law, management, and advocacy will contribute different aspects to a development proposal. We request that participants have some familiarity with housing issues and a strong desire to learn about affordable-housing development.

Finding Teammates

The student coordinating committee will help students form teams through the registrations and at the introductory sessions. The meetings will explain how the competition works and introduce students to one another. The coordinators will place students on teams based on the information provided at the introductory sessions. Students who are registering with teammates will have an opportunity to provide this information to coordinators at the introductory sessions.

Students do not need to establish a relationship with a development organization before registering their team. The competition sponsors and the student coordinating committee will host meetings to:

Introduce the organizations and the development sites, and,
Finalize the pairings of student teams and development organizations.

Attendance at these meetings is required to participate in the competition.

Team Requirements

At least two universities must be represented on each team. The ideal team will consist of six to eight interdisciplinary graduate students and include at least two members with strong design skills.

Teams should be able to address some technical issues related to architectural design, project proformas, and financial feasibility. We recommend that you draw from diverse educational and professional backgrounds. Teams should expect to spend about 15 hours per week developing their proposals, with more time as the proposal deadline approaches.

Teams are encouraged to work with a faculty advisor and can invite any faculty member with whom they have a relationship.

Sponsors

In addition to FHLBank Boston, below are the sponsors of the competition.

The Boston Society for Architecture (BSA) is a member-driven platform advancing architecture and design as civic resources for Greater Boston. We are comprised of two interconnected nonprofits working in partnership:

BSA/AIA is a membership organization that supports architects, designers, and allied professionals to lead, learn, and create meaningful change in practice, policy, and the built environment through curiosity, collaboration, and advocacy.
The BSA Foundation is a charitable organization that expands access to design education and civic engagement, empowering people of all ages and backgrounds to understand, explore, and shape the places they live.

Together, we convene the professional community and the public to address the region’s most pressing challenges—from housing affordability to climate resilience to equitable access to design. Our shared vision is a future where design is a public good: accessible, inclusive, and transformative for all who call Eastern Massachusetts home.

CohnReznick helps organizations optimize performance, manage risk, and maximize value through associated firms operating under the CohnReznick brand: CohnReznick LLP, a licensed CPA firm providing assurance services; and CohnReznick Advisory LLC (not a licensed firm) providing advisory and tax services. Together, CohnReznick provides leaders with deep industry knowledge and relationships, solutions to address clients’ unique business goals and risks, and insight on how emerging market forces can drive opportunity. With offices nationwide, CohnReznick serves organizations around the world as an independent member of Nexia.

The Kuehn Charitable Foundation supports three interests threaded through the late Bob Kuehn’s 35-year career as a real estate developer: affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space. KCF’s major program is the Kuehn Fellowship, a two-year fellowship pairing vetted Boston-area nonprofits with Fellows eager to address and gain real-world experience in one of our region’s most pressing challenges — affordable housing. The Kuehn Fellowship runs on a two-year cycle. Dates and deadlines for the 2027-2029 Fellowship will be announced in the fall of 2026.

ICON Architecture, Inc., a Boston-based, women-owned firm with 50 staff, believes that everyone should love where they live. Our new paradigms for living range from infill transit-oriented development to innovative adaptive reuse, creating sustainable communities that energize residents and neighbors alike. We make better places for people to build their lives.

Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) is the leading statewide affordable housing policy and research organization in Massachusetts. Established in 1967, CHAPA advocates for increased opportunity and expanded access to housing so that every person in Massachusetts can have a safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home. CHAPA pursues its mission by building consensus among diverse interests in the housing field, including nonprofit and for-profit developers, advocates, homeowners, tenants, lenders, property managers, government officials, and many more.

Finance, Design Mentors, Judges

The following finance and design mentors are participating in the 2026 competition. The judges listed below participated in the 2025 competition. The list of judges for 2026 will be updated in the future.

Design Mentors

David Ascher, Iric Rex, Lia Scheele, and Anna Wason, Davis Square Architects
Kyle Barker, Primary Projects
Alexandra Eastland, Jansen Meals, Charles Rachal, and Patricia Rizzo, ICON Architecture
Katelin Morgan and John Mucciarone, ZeroEnergy Design
Tim Talun, Elkus Manfredi Architects