RHSO People
Director, Regional Housing Services Office
Since 2006, Liz has been assisting MetroWest communities and their residents with all aspects of affordable housing, from helping people find housing, to supporting municipalities in creating and managing affordable housing in their communities. Liz led the establishment of and continues to direct the innovative Regional Housing Services Office, an inter-municipal collaborative between Acton, Bedford, Concord, Lexington, Lincoln, Maynard, Sudbury, Wayland and Weston.
Liz is also an approved lottery and monitoring agent helping households find affordable housing. This includes administering housing lotteries for both ownership and rental projects, qualifying applicants for income eligibility, and performing resale agent services, assisting hundreds of households move into affordable housing, working with all affordable housing programs. Additionally, Elizabeth assists other municipalities in affordable housing planning and monitoring efforts as an independent contractor. Prior to her housing work, Liz was an information technology manager in the financial services industry.
Ibrahim joined the RHSO in January 2024. Ibrahim comes to the RHSO with a background as a Program Manager with various community human services bringing his deep understanding of affordable housing and mental health. He has a bachelor's in information technology, a background in project management with more than 2 years' experience. He brings past responsibilities with assisting and educating clients, and will step into the 'front door' role at the RHSO, as well as assist with program administration.
Jody has been working with the RHSO since 2019. Her primary responsibility is annual monitoring for rental projects in the RHSO towns, ensuring the residents are qualified and that the properties are in compliance with the Regulatory Agreement. She also annually completes the estimated property assessments for the affordable homeownership units in each town, working in conjunction with the various Town Assessors; completes the HUD Environmental Reviews for all HOME projects; and does project-specific work for the RHSO.
Jody is the former Director of Planning and Community Development for the Town of Sudbury. She retired in 2016 after 25 years in that position. In that role she was formative in the creation of the Regional Housing Services Office with Elizabeth Rust, identifying the need for affordable housing services in the MetroWest area and working with MAPC and the area towns to define the service model and pricing structure. Prior to her work in Sudbury, Jody worked for the City of Newton in the Newton Housing Rehabilitation Fund office administering HUD CDBG grant funds to low and moderate income residents.
Jen has been working with the RHSO since January 2023. Jen is responsible for monitoring and assisting with the administration of rental assistance and affordable housing programs as well as providing local support for the RHSO towns. Prior to joining the RHSO team, Jen was the Director of Leased Housing and Continued Occupancy at the Somerville Housing Authority (SHA) where she oversaw the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) programs utilization while ensuring voucher allocation and funding was within the budget authority and provided oversight for the state and federal public housing programs. Jen's responsibilities included tenant-based vouchers (often referred to as Section 8) that subsidize rent from a landlord of the voucher-holder's choice, state- and federally-funded program-based vouchers that subsidize rent in particular housing developments, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to name a few. In addition, Jen ensured families were properly selected and admitted to the programs. Jen has also worked with privately owned and managed affordable housing entities such as MB Management Company, Maloney Properties, and Beacon Communities, and is knowledgeable with various affordable housing programs.
Christine also joined RHSO in January 2023. She will be supporting member communities, along with updating the RHSO website and other communications for the RHSO. Prior to working with RHSO, Christine served as a member and chair of the Wayland Housing Partnership, a town board charged with promoting affordable housing. Her career has come full-circle, having started in a social services office that provided financial assistance to help prevent evictions. Since then, Christine has worked for Daybreak Resources for Women and Children in Worcester, the United Way in Framingham, and an anti-poverty advocacy organization in Upstate New York, along with teaching full-time for several years in the Social Work Department at Regis College in Weston.
Advisory Committee
The RHSO Advisory Committee is comprised of one representative from each municipality, who is appointed by the Town Manager/Administrator of the municipality. The Advisory Committee meets quarterly.