NLIHC Chief Crowley to Retire

One of the most prominent and respected figures in the affordable housing sector has announced her retirement after more than 17 years of leadership.

Sheila Crowley, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), has announced that she will be stepping down in April 2016. Crowley was a frequent presence at Congressional committee hearings on federal housing policy, and under her leadership the NLIHC expanded its staff and advocacy outreach. She was a major driving force in the creation and funding of the National Housing Trust Fund, which was created in 2008 as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act and is scheduled t begin allocating funds next year.

“Using research and data, organizing, communications and media outreach, Sheila has developed partners and champions on both sides of the aisle, within Congress, multiple administrations, and with thousands of low income housing advocates across the country,” said Brenda Clement, NLIHC board chairwoman. “She has established, cultivated, and solidified the reputation of NLIHC as a trusted source of information for policymakers in Washington, D.C., and the members we serve. NLIHC is well positioned for continued success due in large part to Sheila’s leadership and vision.”

Prior to joining NLIHC in 1998, Crowley was the 1996-1997 Social Work Congressional Fellow, serving on the Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee’s Housing Subcommittee. She was previously executive director of The Daily Planet, a multipurpose homeless service and advocacy organization in Richmond, Va., and she was the founding director in 1979 of the YWCA Women’s Advocacy Program in Richmond, the shelter and service program for battered women and their children.