Elissa Dennis has assisted clients in a broad range of affordable housing developments since joining CEI in 1990. She is expert in financing, tax credit syndication, and related aspects of affordable housing development. She has worked on new construction and rehabilitation projects for families, seniors, and special needs populations in rural, suburban, and urban settings in California and Washington. She is adept at combining various local, state and federal funding sources with the low income and historic tax credit programs.

Elissa is active in local and statewide housing and community development issues. She served on the board of directors of East Bay Housing Organizations including four years as president. She was a founder and longtime board member of People’s Community Partnership (now Self Help) Federal Credit Union. She served several terms on the Housing California board, including time as treasurer. She is currently serving on the boards of California Coalition for Rural Housing and California Tax Reform Association.

Before moving to California for her master’s degree in urban planning at UCLA, she worked as a community organizer in Austin, Texas and a newspaper reporter in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a B.A. from Cornell University.