Who is Affordable Homeownership Foundation Inc.?

My name is Lois Healy and I am proud to be the CEO of Affordable Homeownership Foundation Inc. AHF was formed by Robert Shellman on October 16, 2000, and was run as the parent foundation of a non-profit home building company called “Homes For All.” Bob believed that stability for individuals and families came from owning their own homes and that homeownership kept families together and built strong communities. Bob was an advocate for affordable housing until the day he passed away while at a CDFI conference in June 2006. I had the honor of working with Bob as one of the few Affordable Housing Lenders. In addition I was also on the AHF Board of Directors from 2001 to 2006.

As an affordable housing lender, I worked with AHF clients, helping them understand errors and issues on their credit reports, in addition to layering subsidies for down payment and closing cost assistance. Everyone Bob and I worked with ended up owning their own homes. Bob was known for his big heart and understanding of what it took for clients to achieve the dream of home ownership.

After Bob’s funeral, I discovered he had left the company to me. In keeping with Bob’s vision and dream, I saw the foreclosure crisis on the horizon and decided to get training as a Certified Foreclosure Prevention Specialist and a Certified Credit and Home Ownership Counselor, which I completed in late 2007. I opened an office in Fort Myers to counsel clients in foreclosure prevention, home ownership and credit issues. I offered these services voluntarily, counseling foreclosure clients by afternoon and evening. Soon they were pouring into our office at about 100 per week.

In 2009, I became the Director of Counseling and Education for another non-profit Housing Counseling Agency in Port Charlotte. I ran one company during the day in Charlotte County and would run AHF in the evening.

Two years ago I made the decision to devote all of my time AHF.

We are now working on programs to build safe affordable housing for Seniors, disabled Veterans and low to moderate income families and individuals. We realize we can’t save the world but we can try to make it a better place to live in our lifetimes, our communities and our areas that we work and have influence in.