People | Here to Stay Community Land Trust

Staff

Kristin Horne

Executive Director

Kristin is Here To Stay’s Executive Director. She has worked to provide equitable housing for both homeowners and renters for 20 years. She began partnering with Here to Stay while working as Housing Development Manager for CMHDC where she put financing in place to purchase and rehab single family homes including Here to Stay’s first acquisition. Since joining Here to Stay in 2021 as the first employee, she has grown the portfolio from 1 property to 24, totalling 47 units,and helped to raise over $9 million.

At CMHDC she oversaw acquisition and development of multifamily buildings, preserving affordability and allowing existing tenants to remain in their homes. At Neighborhood Housing Services she managed disposition of foreclosed homes, prioritizing sales to community members over investors. At Rebuilding Together Metro Chicago she helped organize free home repairs for seniors and families, helping them to remain safely in their homes, and worked with corporate foundations to provide upgrades to community centers and non-profits throughout the Chicago area.

All of these experiences guided her to Here to Stay where she can apply these skills to grow the land trust and help residents establish permanent roots through homeownership. Kristin’s other passions include her family, listening to live music, reading and cooking.

Lucy Gomez-Feliciano

Community Engagement Director

lgomez@heretostayclt.org

Housing and more specifically affordable housing has been something I have cared about for a long time. My insight into housing has evolved due to my engagement with campaigns led and or supported by the Palenque LSNA (formerly the Logan Square Neighborhood Association) where I worked for a total of sixteen years.

Over the last thirty years, my experience as a professional has been shaped by the richness of the people and communities that I have had the privilege of working with. I have worked on issues such as unraveling the complexity of childhood obesity through a public health lens by inviting local, city, and state institutions to work together. I lead a team of peer educators (former Parent Mentors) who facilitated evidence-based curriculums to immigrant mothers. Before transiting to Here to Stay I managed the Ladders of Opportunity Program within the Parent Engagement Institute’s Parent Mentor Program, supporting partners across the state of Illinois who coach parents pursuing their education and/or career goals.

My strong sense of integrity and accountability have been drivers in my work to address social injustices. I have an unapologetic sense of curiosity that allows me to explore resources and to see possibilities. I earned my bachelor’s in fine arts from the University of Illinois in Chicago, a volunteer board member with various organizations, a proud product of Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood and a current homeowner in Logan Square, where my daughter and I live today.

Mia Carbajal

Director of Special Projects

mcarbajal@heretostayclt.org

Mia Carbajal has more than a decade of experience in affordable housing policy, community organizing, and community land trust development. Born in Peru and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, her experiences witnessing displacement and gentrification in San Francisco’s Mission District shaped her commitment to advancing community-driven solutions that promote neighborhood stability and long-term affordability.

Before joining Here to Stay, Mia was a founding staff member of a community land trust in Richmond, California, where she led real estate development efforts and helped grow the organization’s portfolio through innovative acquisition strategies, public-sector partnerships, and policy advocacy.

Since joining Here to Stay, she has helped expand the portfolio to nearly 50 permanently affordable homes. She leads project management for construction and real estate development, securing development funding, coordinating new construction projects, and supporting strategic growth initiatives. Mia also leads the organization’s board development efforts, strengthening community governance through resident leadership.

Mia is passionate about developing practical strategies that increase community ownership, preserve long-term affordability, and equip residents with the tools to shape the future of their neighborhoods. She holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and has completed professional training through the California Community-Owned Real Estate Program and the National Development Council.

Board

Bhaskar Manda

Chair

Bhaskar S. Manda is a community leader in Logan Square, particularly in the area of affordable housing. He is active in actions, policy-making, and zoning and development processes in the 35th and surrounding wards. He’s on the boards of Somos Logan Square and the Unity Park Advisory Council. He has been CASA of Cook County’s technical support volunteer for over 12 years. Bhaskar lives in Logan Square and works in the edtech & books industry. He is also an amateur runner, and has run in several Chicago Marathons.

David Feinberg

Secretary

My work in community development finance as a CDFI leader and a non-profit developer spans more than 15 years. I currently work for Chicago Community Loan Fund as the Dir. of Coaching and Knowledge Transfer. I have served as a board member of JCUA, an LSC member, served an appointment on the Illinois State Charter School Commission, and coached travel softball and baseball. I’m committed and motivated to align capital with justice and create and preserve vibrant and sustainable neighborhoods through public/private partnerships.

Kathy Tholin

Treasurer

Kathy is a long-time resident of Logan Square, where she has worked with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (Palenque LSNA) and other groups on a wide range of housing and community issues. She was formerly the CEO of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the founding director of CNT Energy (now Elevate Energy). She is also a founder and board member of the Chicago Community Loan Fund and serves on the board of the Chicago Community Land Trust.

Lisa Avila

As a lifelong Chicagoan, I have worked in various capacities in social justice work. Currently, I am a communications strategist and a proud Here to Stay homeowner who believes deeply in housing as a human right. I currently serve as Director of Communications for Chicago’s 26th Ward. After experiencing displacement myself, becoming a homeowner through Here to Stay allowed me to finally grow roots in the community with stability, dignity, and a sense of belonging.

Emilio Carrasquillo

Emilio Carrasquillo serves as Program Manager for the north side office of Spanish Coalition for Housing. He brings with him 15 years in retail management, a background in real estate sales, mortgage loan origination and has 15 years’ experience as a Director in the nonprofit housing management field.

He has served as Co-chair of the Midwest Region for HomeOwnership© Center Managers as well as the National Homeownership© Center Managers National Advisory Committee with NeighborWorks© America. He is on several other community boards and has been appointed to the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund board by Mayor Lightfoot. A lifelong resident of Humboldt Park, Emilio is passionate about creating housing opportunities for families all over the Chicagoland area.

Jadid Hernandez

Jadid is a new HTS homeowner and human rights advocate. Jadid works in Advertising and grew up in the Logan Square/Avondale neighborhood. She has been involved with her community from a young age. In 2010, she was introduced to Palenque, where she learned the importance of caring for the village that cares for you. Years later, Palenque introduced HTS, who helped her accomplish her dream of buying her parents a home.

Julio Pensamiento

Julio was born and raised in Hermosa and currently serves as the Strategic Partnership Coordinator at Center for Changing Lives where he manages all of the external relationships with quality partner organizations that wish to collaborate with CCL and its programs. Before his role at CCL, Julio spent two years performing constituent services at a local aldermanic office where his passion for community-based organizations originated and grew. He enjoys working towards helping empower the people in his community through quality social services.

Benjamin Serrano

I am a born and raised Chicagoan with roots in the West Town and Humboldt Park neighborhoods. I worked as a teacher and community educator. I am currently transitioning to my second career as a nurse. I want to help create communities that can access affordable and equitable living situations where the people who build that community are in control of that community and not beholden to the stress and trauma of displacement and gentrification. As a proud co-owner of an HTS condo, it allows me to live in community with other HTS families, finding stability in the neighborhoods they grew up in.

Lincoln Stannard

Lincoln Stannard is a passionate community development practitioner and housing advocate. He leads LUCHA’s affordable housing efforts as Director of Community Development, guiding projects like Encuentro Square and the redevelopment of Humboldt Park UMC. Lincoln began his career at the Chicago Community Loan Fund, where he managed construction lending for the City of Chicago’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Born and raised on Chicago’s West Side, Lincoln has called Logan Square home for 14 years. He has been active in housing justice and tenant organizing projects, including time spent on the board of the grassroots organization Somos Logan Square. In his free time, Lincoln can be found exploring bike trails or on the walls of his local climbing gym.

Susan Yanun

Susan is the Director of Planning at Palenque LSNA. During Susan’s time, Palenque has completed two community-led Quality of Life Plans, the last in 2018 called Here to Stay. A key component of that plan was the development of a Community Land Trust, which Susan staffed until HTS hired its first program director. Other community development projects led by Susan include working with tenants of the Lorington Apartments to be the first group in the state to use the Federally Assisted Housing Preservation Act to preserve their 54 Section 8 apartments. Susan also led the organizing campaign to help Bickerdike gain support for their 66 unit, all affordable, Zapata Apartments. Susan got her Bachelor’s Degree from Tufts University and her Master’s Degree in Urban Planning & Policy from UCLA.

Founding Organizations

Center for Changing Lives

CCL is a HUD-approved housing counseling agency and a Financial Opportunity Center. CCL’s work includes financial coaching, employment coaching, and training with skill enhancement opportunities, along with housing and homeowner counseling. CCL has served more than 1,170 households over the last three years. CCL will leverage its financial and employment coaching to cultivate a pipeline of ready homebuyers, in addition to conducting outreach about the initiative and educating and mobilizing the community around inclusionary housing policy to sustainably fund the initiative.

LUCHA

Founded in 1982, LUCHA is both a US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-approved housing counseling agency as well as a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO). The LUCHA acronym is also the Spanish word for “struggle,” which reflects the organization’s history of leading the struggle against discrimination, housing displacement, systemic inequity, and patterns of injustice which impact members of Chicago’s low-and moderate-income Latinx and African American communities.

Anchored in Humboldt Park, LUCHA was born out of the Puerto Rican community as it organized for equitable housing. As part of its central commitment to racial equity via affordable housing creation and preservation, LUCHA has built over 280 units of affordable rental housing divided across five developments spanning Humboldt Park, Logan Square, and West Town.

Palenque LSNA

(Liberating Spaces through Neighborhood Action) Founded in 1962, as the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, in 2022, we became Palenque LSNA. Palenque is a multi-issue community organization serving 6,500 residents across the Logan Square, Hermosa, and Avondale neighborhoods. Forty-five community institutions including schools, churches, block clubs, and housing/social service agencies are members of Palenque LSNA. Palenque LSNA is a catalyst for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Immigrant communities and allies to take care of one another and take strategic action for systemic change and a just, resilient, and joyful future.

Palenque LSNA has been the lead organization for two community planning processes since 2003. The most recent quality of life plan, published in October 2018, put forth the solution of the Community Land Trust to help fight rapid gentrification and displacement in the area.

Spanish Coalition for Housing

In 1966, Spanish Coalition for Housing (SCH) began as a grassroots collaboration that sought to address housing issues facing the Latine community and incorporated in 1972. SCH’s mission is to build generational wealth through housing counseling, financial education, and advocacy, by connecting low-to-moderate income households to resources that create housing stability, homeownership, and economic mobility.

SCH is one of the nation’s leading nonprofit HUD Approved Housing Counseling organizations and continues to be a top performer in the housing counseling industry nationally. SCH serves over 5,000 households annually across its comprehensive housing counseling services to include rental/tenancy counseling, homeownership, post-purchase, foreclosure prevention, support and technical assistance to small landlords across Chicago’s 77 Community Areas and suburban Cook County communities; connecting families and individuals to the resources and education they need to achieve their housing and financial wellness goals.

Since 2020, SCH has created over 670 first time homeowners who have purchased their first home and connected over $150 million in affordable capital to support access to sustainable and affordable homeownership.