Meet SCANPH Board Member Nicole Norori
Nicole Norori, Senior Housing Finance Consultant, CHPC
SCANPH Board Members – the strength behind its success – are geographically diverse and serve as experts, practitioners, and advocates for supporting policy and programming that addresses the needs of economically disadvantaged individuals and families who are most in need of affordable housing. Our team is grateful to be backed by the decades of experience and expertise of the board, who reflect a diverse and representative body of SCANPH organizational members.
SCANPH will introduce each of our board members and share background about the leadership we count on to guide our initiatives.
Nicole Norori joined California Housing Partnership Corporation’s Southern California team in 2015 as a Senior Housing Finance Consultant, bringing with her 15 years of direct affordable housing real estate development and finance experience. She has worked on a variety and range of developments, including new construction, acquisition/rehab, gut rehab, mixed-use, mobile home park relocation and replacement housing, and multifamily conversion of a historic building. Nicole has worked in both non-profit and for-profit affordable housing development and brings intricate knowledge of local, state, and federal financing mechanisms along with development and construction processes. Before joining CHPC, Nicole worked as a Project Manager for Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation and oversaw the development of various non-rural, rural, and farmworker family developments in both Ventura and Santa Barbara County. Through her development work at CEDC and prior work experience, she has worked on developments serving Special Needs Populations, Seniors, Families, and Farmworkers. She has also worked closely with local jurisdictions in Ventura County to implement affordable housing “friendly” zoning policies and ordinances and has worked extensively on reviewing and providing input for local Housing Elements. Nicole received a Masters of Arts in Urban Planning and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.
What is the best part of your job?
The best part about my work and the work that we all do together is knowing 100% that an individual or a family will have a safe and secure roof over their head and a place to call home.
How did you first get involved in the affordable housing sector?
I was a graduate student in the UCLA Urban Planning Program in Neal Richman’s Professional Development Winter Seminar and we were required to secure an internship through a campus fair that Neal organized every year and I was placed as an intern with A Community of Friends.
What project are you most proud of and why?
The Valle Naranjal farmworker project in Piru, California, which is an unincorporated rural community in Ventura County. It was one of my first projects that I developed as a Project Manager outside of the City of LA. It was an entirely new and different experience because of the challenges of developing in a rural community with limited resources. I had to work through water access issues, endangered species issues, safe routes to school for school children in rural communities, working with the tough farmer next door and learning about pesticide use, community NIMBY issues, and also having to deal with historical requirements because the site was a former Bracero era farmworker camp. It had it all. I’ll never forget one of my colleagues asking, “What market-rate developer built that?” as she saw the development alongside the 126! Ha! I was happy to share it was one of ours and 100% affordable.
What might people be surprised to know about you?
I’ve lived in four countries – my birth country – Nicaragua, and also Argentina, Chile, and the United States.
If you didn’t live in Southern California where would you live?
(a) Somewhere tropical, I like warmer weather
(b) Near nature – the mountains, the ocean
(c) Not too slow of a pace, otherwise I would get bored
Maybe one of the Mediterranean countries in Europe or Latin America.
Do you have a motto or personal mantra?
Actions Speak Louder than Words. I also like Just Do It.