CHAPA Mourns the Loss of Amy Anthony

CHAPA mourns the passing of Amy Anthony, a former member of CHAPA’s Board of Directors and Policy Leadership Council and one of the nation’s foremost experts in affordable housing.

"Amy’s legacy lives on through the policies she crafted, the organizations she launched, and the affordable homes built and preserved under her guidance and leadership," said Rachel Heller, CEO of CHAPA. We offer our sincerest condolences to her family.

Amy served as Secretary of the Executive Office of Communities and Development in Massachusetts from 1983 to 1990. Amy also founded the non-profit affordable housing developer, Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH). CHAPA sends its sincerest condolences to her family.

From 1983 to 1990, Amy served as Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Communities and Development, a $600 million Cabinet-level state agency devoted to producing affordable housing and promoting municipal, community, and economic development. She was appointed to the post by then-Governor Michael Dukakis.

Under her direction, Massachusetts created and implemented innovative, award-winning programs that produced more than 25,000 homes and have served for decades as models for other states. Anthony also played an active role in the development of national housing policy. In 1987, she was named to the National Housing Task Force which produced recommendations that resulted in landmark housing legislation, including the HOME Program.

Amy also helped found Massachusetts Housing Partnership, a state quasi-public agency that supports and finances affordable housing, and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, a leading private investor and lender specializing in financing affordable housing and community development throughout New England.

Amy also co-founded and was the former President and CEO of the non-profit developer, Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH). She served as the organization’s top officer from 2001-2015. From its beginnings in 2001 with a portfolio of 1,600 affordable rental apartments in Missouri, Anthony led POAH’s organization’s growth to more than 9,000 affordable homes at more than 100 properties in 11 states and the District of Columbia.

In 2017, POAH launched the Amy Anthony College Savings Program in her honor to help young people in POAH communities prepare for higher education. 

Last year, Anthony received the 2017 Cushing Niles Dolbeare Lifetime Service Award from the National Low Income Housing Coalition for her many years of dedication, service, and innovative leadership in producing and preserving affordable rental housing for low income households.

Anthony was a graduate of Smith College.

For more on Amy's life and achievements, please click here.