Barbara Sokoloff

Through the years, Barbara Sokoloff, a development consultant, has provided support to SWAP on critical issues, including project input, viability, financial analysis, and securing sources of funding. Her advocacy has been steadfast and invaluable. She traces her involvement with affordable housing development to her time as the City Planner in Warwick, where she worked to create an affordable housing non-profit and became one of the original commissioners for Rhode Island Housing. “Working with high-quality non-profits like SWAP to create affordable housing for families and the elderly has been very rewarding,” Sokoloff says. ”But there are challenges including scarce resources and neighborhood and political opposition.”

Today, Barbara Sokoloff Associates is a Providence-based community development and consulting firm with expertise in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, New Markets Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, state and federal programs, HUD financing, and private financing. Her thoughts on the future of affordable housing over the next 50 years: “Committed leadership is needed at all levels of government:  local, state, and federal. Without government support, both as rental subsidies and construction dollars, it will be difficult to continue affordable housing development and maintain existing affordable units. The RI state government has been supportive, and that is expected to continue, but federal financial support is critical.”