People:
Priya Jayachandran
Priya Jayachandran joined the National Housing Trust (NHT) as president in early 2018. In her role, she also serves as President of the National Housing Trust Community Development Fund (NHTCDF) and NHT Communities.
Priya leads the Trust’s engagement efforts in preservation policy, affordable housing development, lending and multifamily energy efficiency and sustainability through a ‘balanced approach’ to fair housing. Under Priya’s leadership, the trust is committed to protecting, improving and maintaining existing affordable housing, while also establishing new affordable housing communities in quality neighborhoods with access to opportunities.
Priya came to NHT from Volunteers of America, where she served as the Senior Vice President of Affordable Housing Development. In this role, she managed the strategic direction and development of affordable rental housing and led the development, acquisition and/or recapitalization of housing and other real estate projects nationwide. Previously, she worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Multifamily Housing Programs as a Senior Policy Advisor to help FHA's work with the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. In December 2014, just four months after starting at HUD, she also assumed Acting Directorship of HUDs Multifamily front office, the Program Administration Office. In December of 2015, she stepped in to the role of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs.
Prior to joining HUD, Priya spent more 15 years in community development real estate banking in New York and Washington, DC. During that time, she led teams delivering debt and tax credit equity, Historic Tax Credits and New Markets Tax Credits for real estate developers of affordable housing and charter schools. Under Priya's leadership, the Mid-Atlantic market at both Citi and Bank of America were the top production offices in the country. Priya is a recognized industry expert on affordable finance deal structuring. Priya has also worked for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in La Paz, Bolivia as a consultant to women’s microcredit organizations; Credit Suisse as an investment banking analyst; and California State Treasurer Kathleen Brown as a Capital Fellow. Priya earned her B.A. from the University of California and her MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.