Rafael Cestero
CEO of The Community Preservation Corporation
A recognized leader in the community development finance industry, Rafael brings with him to The Housing Problem more than 30 years of experience in tackling the most pressing housing challenges cities across the nation are facing.
It was in 2012 Rafael joined CPC, one of the most financially strong and impactful nonprofit multifamily finance companies in the country. Through its construction lending, Agency lending, and equity investing activities, CPC has provided more than $12 billion to finance over 220,000 units of affordable and workforce housing and is currently one of the largest Community Development Financial Institutions solely dedicated to multifamily housing finance.
Prior to joining CPC, Rafael was Managing Director at L+M Development Partners, a leading developer of affordable and mixed-income housing. He, of course, also served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the largest municipal affordable housing development and housing code enforcement agency in the country. Not to mention he also simultaneously served as chairman of the board for the New York City Housing Development Corporation and as HPD’s Deputy Commissioner for Development from 2004-2007.
The Inclusionary Housing Program, the NYC Acquisition Fund, and the overhaul of the 421-a tax incentive program? You might recognize these key NYC housing programs. Rafael helped launched all of them.
Kirk Goodrich
President & Partner of Monadnock Development
Kirk Goodrich is the President of Monadnock Development and has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of community development, affordable housing finance and real estate development.
From 1998 to 2008, Kirk led the housing tax credit syndication business for Enterprise Community Investment – first in New York City and then in the northeast region. During that period, his team financed 12,000 units of affordable housing and invested approximately $1 billion. Before that, Kirk was a project manager for the Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia handling property disposition and underwriting homeownership developments.
Kirk has been Chairman of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH) since 2019 and serves on the executive committee of Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC) as well as on the board of the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation Community Restoration Fund. Most recently, he launched Black Developers Network Triboro (BDN Triboro), a 100-percent Black-owned entity that is helping position Black developers as leaders in the city’s real estate market.