Avery Dement was promoted to Deputy Director in July of 2025. Avery’s expertise ranges the gamut from new construction and preservation to upstate and downstate New York projects.  She helped a client complete a many years delayed conversion and financial workout in 9 months.  The nonprofit client will no longer need to financially shore up the property and the building will have long term fiscal and physical health.  This financial recapitalization will no doubt be a model that many other distressed assets will follow. 

Avery has a strong curiosity and desire to learn and develop new skills.  She has brought this passion to help Strada grow our work for Community Land Trusts and developments for residents impacted by the criminal legal system.  Avery is widely appreciated by clients and colleagues for her strategic thinking and thoughtful demeanor. 

Colleen Patterson was promoted for the second time in her tenure at Strada to become a Senior Project Manager in August of 2025.  To date, she is the only employee who has been promoted more than once.  Colleen has become an expert project manager, having closed three transactions with three more in predevelopment that she will be closing in 2025 and early 2026.  She is extraordinarily detail oriented but never loses sight of the big picture.  She has completed and successfully been awarded four PBV applications, 2 AHP applications, 1 HCR SRDI application, and 3 Reso A applications for a total of 10 successful awards.

Colleen is trusted by her clients and peers.  We are so happy to recognize the transition that she has already made from playing a supporting role on projects to leading projects. 

Avery and Colleen bring a wealth of experience and passion for affordable and supportive housing. We congratulate them both on their promotions.  We look forward to their continued growth at Strada and their contributions to the industry.

Strada is proud to announce that Avery Dement was selected to participate in the Urban Design Forum’s 2025-2026 Global Exchange Fellowship. She will spend 9 months engaging in deep policy research on the “big swings” that cities around the world are taking to solve the housing crisis. She will travel to Tokyo to meet with government officials, academics, and practitioners and learn about the innovative policies that are being implemented in Japan. Her focus during the fellowship will be on the topic of energizing social housing.

Strada Ventures LLC is a woman-owned real estate consulting and development company with expertise in supportive and affordable housing.  Strada provides customized services to for-profit and nonprofit affordable housing developers.  Strada helps its clients acquire and rehabilitate existing real estate properties, construct new supportive and affordable housing properties, manage their assets, and learn how to create financial models.  Strada operates primarily in NYC but also in Upstate NY, Hudson Valley, Baltimore, Kentucky, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.

Strada is a small, fast-growing venture that is looking for someone to grow with the company.  Strada started in 2019 with the Principal Courtney Horwitz and one client and has since grown to a company of 11 with over 60 clients. 

The position is a unique opportunity to work collaboratively with the existing Strada staff, who are all veterans in the field, to work for some of the most prolific developers in NYC, and to grow professionally in tandem with Strada’s growth.  This role is for a candidate who is driven, organized, entrepreneurial, can lead a project, underwrite a transaction, has strong interpersonal skills, and wants to join a small, passionate, hardworking, and cohesive staff.

Some of the things that make Strada a unique place to work are:

Exposure to all aspects of supportive & affordable housing, you might:

o   lead a transaction from start to finish,

o   assist a client during a critical time like at loan conversion,

o   advise on a year 15 project,

o   develop tools to track a client’s existing portfolio,

o   help a non-profit who is partnering with a for profit developer,

o   explain the benefits and risks of providing a guarantee to a non-profit board;

Ability to work on all types of projects, including:

o   Supportive housing,

o   Affordable housing

o   new construction LIHTC,

o   preservation,

o   Coops, Mitchelle Lamas

o   Homeownership

o   Shelters

o   NYC and NYS funded,

o   Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Voluntary Inclusionary Housing, and

o   HUD deals;

Flexible work from home, in the office, out of state…wherever you are…policy;

· If working in the office, our space is a private office at a WeWork in Brooklyn Heights with all that WeWork has to offer:  

o   beautiful views,

o   phone booths for private calls,

o   conference rooms with white boards and ping pong tables,

o   lounge areas with couches, and free coffee, tea, snacks, and kombucha. 

o   Indoor bike storage

o   one block from the subway, several bus routes, Citi Bike station in front of the office;

·       Flexible work schedule, if needed;

·       Collegial, supportive team environment;

·       Smart, hardworking, passionate peers; and

·       Challenging, interesting, impactful projects.

This person will lead projects for clients, by:

·       Managing the process of gaining all required City, State, Federal approvals needed to sell, acquire, or convert loans for supportive or affordable housing;

·       Leading ongoing transaction calls;

·       Managing client’s third-party vendors, such as accountants, lawyers, energy consultants, engineers, environmental contractors;

·       Preparing and/or update underwriting models;

·       Assisting clients with financing from lenders/banks as well as government organizations;

·       Working with HUD, NYC, NYS on real-estate development requirements;

·       Assisting clients in identifying and negotiating with joint venture partners and syndicators;

·       Managing effective communication with all stakeholders; and

·       Maintaining financial information in excel.

The candidate should have:

·       Knowledge of NYC or NYS or other City supportive housing and/or new construction subsidy and loan programs;

·       Knowledge of LIHTC transactions;

·       Knowledge of tax incentive programs;

·       Excellent interpersonal skills;

·       Excellent written and verbal communication skills;

·       Proficiency with excel; and

·     Project management skills, including the ability to track and stay on top of new projects, as well as oversee and keep track of existing ones.

The position is a full time, W-2 position, with health insurance, a Simple IRA plan, and bonuses. The salary will be commensurate with experience but will be in the range of $100,000-$150,000.

Interested applicants should send a resume by e-mail to Courtney@stradanyc.com.  For more information on Strada, please visit www.stradanyc.com or reach out to Courtney to set up a phone/zoom chat.

This May, Strada’s founder and Principal, Courtney Horwitz, served as co-chair of the 56th Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC) Annual Benefit and Awards Reception with Sam Marks, CEO of FJC. Thanks to their leadership, the committee raised $329,000, exceeding both their fundraising goal and the previous record for the largest sum raised at a FAC event. These crucial unrestricted funds support FAC’s work, serving thousands of New Yorkers each year through comprehensive programs advocating for economic, social, and racial justice for an inclusive city.

Strada is excited to have successfully secured an award of eight Project-Based Section 8 vouchers through NYCHA's most recent Project-Based Voucher RFP. These vouchers will support a scattered-site project in Northern Manhattan, which is owned by a non-profit community-based organization. The vouchers will be a critical source of income, allowing the project to leverage private debt to complete a comprehensive rehabilitation while also stabilizing the project's financial position long-term. 

Strada is proud to have successfully assisted in the application for and award of 9% LIHTC credits through HCR's 2024 Multifamily Finance 9% LIHTC RFP. The funding will support the new construction of 80 units of supportive and affordable rental housing in a town in upstate New York owned by a non-profit based in Yonkers. 9% LIHTC credits are a scarce resource in affordable housing development, but are critical to making new construction projects like this one possible.

Strada is thrilled to announce the promotions of Colin Murphy and Evan Easterbrooks-Dick in 2024.

Colin Murphy was promoted to Director in March of 2024. Colin’s expertise in supportive housing has contributed to Strada’s growth in this sector of the industry.  He brings a wealth of knowledge and equally important, he brings patience and compassion to his work.  He is widely appreciated by his nonprofit supportive housing provider clients, who find his guidance and strong communication skills an asset to the process of educating their boards, finding and working with development partners and holding their hand through the development process.  Colin is a true advocate for his clients and supportive housing generally. 

 Colin is currently engaged in the development of approximately 1,100 units of new construction affordable housing in New York City spread across two supportive housing projects, two low-income housing projects, and one senior housing project. He is also currently engaged in the predevelopment process for the rehabilitation of an OMH Community Residence in Manhattan and an HDFC co-op in Brooklyn, New York. He has advised nonprofit organizations on investor exits for three upcoming Year 15 projects.

Evan Easterbrooks-Dick was promoted to Deputy Director in December of 2024. Evan’s help guiding both experienced and new developers has been invaluable.  His strong negotiating skills and ability to shepherd the process forward in a thoughtful way that engenders trust from all parties has been an asset to our clients.  Evan is also a gifted teacher who has taught countless affordable housing underwriting classes to a range of clients.  He brings his real-world experience and deep knowledge of underwriting to each session, making them engaging and lively.

Evan helped to lead the predevelopment process and underwriting for the rehabilitation of a supportive housing project in East Harlem and a homeless shelter in Lower Manhattan, both of which closed on financing at the end of 2024.  In addition to underwriting and development, Evan has performed a detailed asset management analysis of the affordable housing portfolio of a nonprofit client, providing key takeaways and recommendations.  He has led in-depth underwriting training series for multiple clients, including a non-profit affordable and senior housing developer and a collection of affordable housing practitioners through the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD).

Colin and Evan bring a wealth of experience and passion for affordable and supportive housing. We congratulate them both on their promotions.  We look forward to their continued growth at Strada and their contributions to the industry.

Strada is excited to announce that Avery Dement, a Strada Senior Project Manager, has joined the Board of New York Housing Conference’s Rising Leaders Network. As a Board Member, she will work to advance the RLN’s mission to support emerging professionals and the next generation of talented leaders to ensure affordable housing in New York remains strong and vital for the future.

Strada is proud to have successfully applied for and received awards from the HCR Small Rental Development Initiative (SRDI) and the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of NY’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP). This funding supports the substantial rehabilitation of six units of affordable rental housing owned by a non-profit in Brooklyn. SRDI is HCR’s program designed to provide competitive grant funding to small projects under 25 units. AHP is FHLB’s competitive grant funding program that supports the rehabilitation and new construction of affordable housing across the country and in US territories. Together, these funding sources help make a small project like this one possible.

Strada is proud to have worked with a NYC non-profit to close on rehabilitation financing in December 2024 for their supportive housing project.  The 74-unit project, located in East Harlem, secured millions of dollars in both private and public funding to undergo significant improvements, including a transition to a more energy efficient heating and hot water system, a roof replacement and substantial upgrades to the kitchen and bathroom within each apartment.  

The project was successful in securing an allocation of 50 Project-Based Vouchers from NYCHA to leverage private debt to finance the rehabilitation, but also to benefit long-term operations and maintain deep affordability levels for tenants.

Project financing sources include a Construction Loan and Permanent Loan from Merchants Capital, Capital Subsidy through HPD’s Year 15 Program, Reso A Funding and NYSERDA Affordable Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program (AMEEP) Incentives.

Strada is proud to have worked on the closing of a $60 million scattered site tenant-in-place rehabilitation project for a Brooklyn-based non-profit developer. The project consists of 102 units across 12 buildings and includes the substantial rehab of a former cluster site that was acquired by the City of New York in 2019 and transferred to responsible non-profit ownership. This building is now permanently affordable housing with a 50% homeless set aside and it will share on-site social services with its neighboring building, which has a 60% homeless set aside. A joint social service space and laundry facility will be built out to benefit residents of both buildings.

Four buildings in the project are participating in HPD/NYSERDA's Electrification Pilot Program, which helps to fund the full electrification of the heating and domestic hot water systems. These buildings will also receive added insulation, new roofs, new windows, and air sealing to ensure the building envelopes are energy efficient. Residents will benefit from increased comfort in their units with electric heating and cooling and improved air quality with electric stoves.

Two other buildings in the project will undergo a net-zero energy retrofit funded in part by NYSERDA's RetrofitNY 2.0 program. The program was designed to offer grants to property owners with qualified buildings to achieve net zero energy or near-net zero energy retrofits of existing multifamily properties.

The project was also successfully awarded 13 NYCHA Project-Based Vouchers, which will significantly benefit the long-term operations of the buildings and preserve low affordability levels for tenants.

Other project funders include Local Initiatives Support Corp (LISC), HPD's Green Housing Preservation Program, HPD Resolution A, NYSERDA Affordable Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program (AMEEP), NYS Clean Heat, and NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities Program (CECP).

All buildings in the project have been pledged to the Joint Operating Entity New York City (JOE NYC), a non-profit entity that acquires and asset manages affordable multifamily properties on behalf of member non-profit Community Development Corporations with the mission to secure the long-term viability of non-profit run affordable housing and to make members more competitive in securing new affordable housing development opportunities.

Strada is happy to have assisted a New York City social service non-profit close a $15 million acquisition and predevelopment loan for the purchase of 245 Clarkson Ave, a parking lot in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Prospect Park – Lefferts Garden. The project, the first for this non-profit, will consist of the new construction of a 124-unit supportive housing development, offering essential services for youth aging out of foster care and individuals living with severe mental illness. The non-profit aims to provide much-needed onsite services in an accessible and meaningful way, provide early interventions to problems, and build relationships critical to their success.

In June 2024, Strada completed training 17 New York State affordable housing operators for Enterprise’s Asset Management University (AMU) 15-month training. AMU is Enterprise’s statewide initiative to help affordable housing operators more effectively manage their housing portfolios.  Housing organizations led by (BIPOC) Black, Indigenous, and other people of color were prioritized.  In those 15 months, Strada provided training and technical assistance to strengthen the internal operations and capacity of affordable housing owners and managers across New York State. We were honored to be chosen to lead this impactful work.

Strada is excited to announce the formation of Strada Development LLC, the company’s new housing subsidiary, as it takes on its first two projects. Partnered with Gilbane Development Company, Strada has closed on a $13 million acquisition loan for the purchase of 1931 Lafayette Ave., a parking lot in the Bronx neighborhood of Soundview. The project will consist of two 19-story buildings with over 400 affordable and supportive housing units, offering essential services for chronically unhoused individuals and affordable housing at various income levels. The project will also include commercial space and replacement parking. It is an honor to partner with the incredible Gilbane team, and we are grateful to the Low Income Investment Fund for its financial support. 

Strada’s founder and principal, Courtney Horwitz, was pleased to be a panelist on the Professionals in Affordable Housing: Development Consultants Roundtable at this year’s New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH) conference.  Held on May 16, 2024, Courtney joined Amy Chandra, Alexandria Hanson, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Catherine Townsend to provide insight as a Development Consultant in Affordable Housing.

In May 2024, Strada’s founder and Principal, Courtney Horwitz, served as co-chair of the 55th Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC) Annual Benefit and Awards Reception with Sam Marks, CEO of FJC. Under their leadership, the committee raised close to $300,000 — the largest amount of money ever raised at a FAC event. These crucial unrestricted funds support FAC’s work, serving thousands of New Yorkers each year through comprehensive programs advocating for economic, social, and racial justice for an inclusive city.

Courtney Horwitz (left) at the 55th FAC Annual Benefit

Across 9 projects, Strada applied for and was awarded 832/840 Section 8 Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs), HUD-funded rental assistance made available to affordable housing developers. These awards came from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD), and the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers (MHACY). We’re pleased to assist these developers in their goal to create more affordable housing units in this city.

Strada Ventures LLC is proud to have assisted a for-profit BIPOC New York State development company close on their first two LIHTC transactions on their own, without a development partner.  The first project closed in December 2023 and consists of the new construction of a 6-story, 24-unit affordable development in the Melrose section of the Bronx.  Financing for the project came from a private loan from US Bank, HPD funding through the Neighborhood Construction Program (NCP), and a loan from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY).    

The second project — closed in 2023 — consists of rehabilitating a 5-building, 122-unit affordable preservation development in West Harlem.  Financing for the project came from a private loan from Webster Bank, an HPD Capital Subsidy, and a New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) grant.

In 2023, Strada assisted an established mission-driven New York City non-profit [The Non-Profit] to apply for and successfully obtain a $9.7 million Homeless Housing Assistance Program (HHAP) award. The award will fund 72 affordable housing units.  Forty-three of the units will be designated for survivors of domestic violence, all of whom will have access to the services they need to rebuild their lives.

On the same project, Strada helped The Non-Profit apply for and successfully obtain a $1.9 million 9% federal low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC). Seventy-one (71) units will be occupied in compliance with LIHTC requirements. The project will be located in the Morrisania section of the Bronx and consists of a 14-story energy-efficient building with a social services suite, meeting room, computer room, kitchen, and large community room.

Strada assisted in closing a $19 million deal for a Manhattan based non-profit organization providing housing and a complete range of treatment for opioids and other substance use disorders for New Yorkers living with addiction. The 40-unit Single Residence Occupancy (SRO) project is a home for residents who struggle with addiction and are HIV-positive. All units are limited to households earning no more than 50% of the Area Median Income. On-site social services are provided by the nonprofit owner through a NYC Human Resource Administration HASA contract and a HUD Continuum of Care contract.

Construction financing includes a first mortgage from the Community Preservation Corporation and capital subsidy from HPD’s Year 15 Program. The project will also benefit from NYSERDA Affordable Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program (AMEEP) grant funds to improve energy efficiency and resident comfort. The existing Moderate Rehabilitation SRO HAP contract was converted into a long-term, 20-year PBV HAP contract; a RAD conversion was completed to secure this long-term rental subsidy contract. The project also received a regulatory agreement from HPD that preserves affordability for at least 60 years. The regulatory agreement includes a provision to allow the owner to maximize rent collection from the new PBV HAP contract through Section 610 of the Private Housing Finance Law.