Who We Are

The Housing Land Advocates was formed in 2004 as the Oregon Alliance for Land Use and Affordable Housing.  We are a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation, and pursue our work as an entirely volunteer-run and -operated organization. Our board of directors is comprised of land use planners, attorneys, lenders, researchers, students, and housing advocates and practitioners with a demonstrated commitment to affordable housing.

Our Board Members

 

Jennifer Bragar, President
Attorney, Tomasi Bragar DuBay
Jennifer has been a long time advocate for affordable housing and uses her past experience as a grassroots campaign manager and land use consultant to help make Housing Land Advocates as effective as possible.

 

Ed Sullivan
Ed is a retired attorney and continues his commitment to the profession as a professor of law. Ed practiced municipal, administrative, and planning law for over 42 years and is a co-founder of Housing Land Advocates.

Ben Schonberger
Planner, Winterbrook Planning
Ben is a professional land use planner with expertise in zoning, advocacy, and site development and design. Over the last decade, he has worked as a planning consultant with a wide variety of public, private, and non-profit organizations.

 

Sarah Adams Schoen
Assistant Professor of Law, University of Oregon School of Law
Sarah is an Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon School of Law, where she teaches Land Use Law, Local Government Law, and Ocean and Coastal Law. Her teaching, research, and service focus on environmental and housing justice, climate change, and land use. Before her academic career, she practiced law in Portland, and, before that, worked as a senior policy analyst for Metro Regional Government. She is admitted to the Oregon State Bar as a Pro Bono Member.

 

Sierra Barnes
Development and Communications Manager, Bridge Meadows
Sierra (she/they) is the Development and Communications Manager at Bridge Meadows, where she has worked since 2018 fundraising for intergenerational affordable housing. Sierra is an AmeriCorps VISTA alum and is a board member for OregonServes, the state commission that oversees AmeriCorps programs and volunteerism across Oregon. She has served as the Chair of the Public Policy and Education Committee since 2022. She is extremely passionate about civic engagement and believes we all have a duty to help make our world a safe, equitable, and inclusive place, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

 

Jean Dahlquist, PAPA project manager, Treasurer, and web administrator
Originations Analyst, National Equity Fund
Jean is a veteran, mother, and LIHTC professional, seeking to create more affordable housing in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, California, and Hawaii. She is passionate about the ways our built environment can make happier, healthier, and more diverse communities. You can feel free to contact her (jdahlqu1@gmail.com) with any PAPA project questions or web errors.

 

Kathy Wilde
Kathy is a lawyer, having graduated from Yale Law School in 1978. She spent her career as a civil rights lawyer, first in Atlanta GA where she did housing discrimination, school desegregation, sexual privacy and voting rights cases (including reapportionment in 1992), then moved to Portland where she spent nearly 20 years as Legal Director of Disability Rights Oregon. Cases included challenges to city decisions blocking the creation of housing for people with mental disabilities, where she worked with Ed Sullivan and others in his firm. She is now retired.

 

Samuel Goldberg
Samuel Goldberg is an Education & Outreach Specialist at the Fair Housing Council of Oregon (FHCO), where he focuses on history and Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) trainings. He also coordinates the activities of the AFFH/Systemic Investigations Committee, a collection of land use professionals and FHCO staff which serves as a watchdog for local planning activities, strategizes how best to advance AFFH in state policies, and provides technical support for jurisdictions.

 

June Bradley
June is HLA’s student board member and a student at Willamette University of Law. Prior to law school, June earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University Oregon, where she also minored in Historic Preservation and Architectural History. There, she developed an interest in how legislation and regulation shape the built environment. An area of particular interest for her is the capacity of reuse and conversion as mechanisms for promoting density and sustainability and increasing housing stock. Currently, June serves as the student liaison for the ABA’s State and Local Government section and is the editor for Willamette Law Online’s LUBA service. Post-graduation, June hopes to practice in the area of land use planning law.