A Few Minutes with Anne Wilson

Anne Wilson, Senior VP, Housing & Real Estate Development, Community Housing Works

Anne Wilson takes pride in her frequent walking tours of the many affordable apartment complexes she’s helped bring to life during her nearly 30-year career.

That’s one of the joys of her executive role at Community Housing Works (CHW), a non-profit agency that develops, rehabilitates, preserves and operates affordable apartment communities in San Diego and throughout California.

Since joining CHW in 2002, Anne has managed the development of over 2,400 of CHW’s 3,030 apartments including residential and mixed-use, new construction, acquisition, preservation and rehabilitation projects. Currently, she manages a 15-person staff, overseeing real estate development, finance and strategy.

Among CHW’s recent projects, the agency helped build San Diego’s first apartment complex that’s fully outfitted with photo-voltaic power, as well as the city’s first such LGBT-affirming seniors complex.

Notably, Anne came to San Diego from her native Boston in 1991, when she served as LISC San Diego’s first executive director. This defining quote sums up her career: “It’s such a gift to see how people’s lives are changed.”

Q: What’s your role at CHW?
A: I like to tell people that I say “yes” and “no” a lot. I have to be able to imagine feasibility to order to even think of buying a property, or even going after an RFP for a public property. I have to conceive that we can get the approvals, the zoning and that the financing will be there for our concept.

Q: Why specifically do you do when you come to work every day?
A: For many years, I had my hands in the actual development process. I enjoyed it, but I’m a manager and executive now, so I look at overall growth projections, oversee staff, advocate and weigh in or policy at local state levels, and help solve problems.

Q: Can you give an example of one of CHW’s recent projects?
A: We just got approved for the acquisition and rehabilitation of 300 senior existing apartments, a $120 million development. Then two or three years ago, it was revved up again. Some of these projects take much longer than we had originally hoped, but we do our best to make them happen. Community Housing Works won after a complex process competing with some of the best developers in the field.

Q: Why do you do what you do?
A: Because I love my job and I feel incredibly blessed. We have real impact on people’s lives. I love having an actual structure, a physical building, that I can come back to and visit. I love watching people go about their daily lives, feeling safe and secure because of the homes we helped become reality. It’s truly gratifying.

Q: What concerns you about San Diego’s housing crisis?
A: I do worry about our widening gap between the wealthy, the financially secure, the working poor and vulnerable on fixed income. For most of us who have secure jobs and live in safe neighborhoods, it’s very hard to imagine what housing insecurity feels like. When you’re constantly forced to find a new place to live because you can’t afford the rent or can’t afford to pay your bills or feed your family, it’s a very hard life that most San Diegans don’t know much about.

Q: As you look back on your career, what are you most proud of?
A: It’s when I visit one of our buildings, going back to 1991 when I was with LISC, and I see so many children having fun, laughing, playing outside. Just having an affordable, safe place to live is transformative for many families. I know what we do changes many people’s lives for the better.

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Anne Wilson
Senior VP, Housing & Real Estate Development
Community Housing Works
2815 Camino del Rio South
San Diego, CA 92108
619 282 6647