Luke Villalobos, Director of Policy and Research, National Housing Conference
Luke Villalobos joined NHC as the director of policy and research in April 2021. Prior to NHC, Luke worked in California on statewide and local affordable housing policy. Managing the Love Your Neighbor Initiative in the Office of the Mayor in the City of Riverside, Luke collaborated with municipal staff and community coalitions to promote affordable housing. While managing this initiative, Luke was part of a team that opened a tiny-homes project on faith-based land for the homeless and also worked with LIHTC developers to address local barriers to production. He worked with the Western Riverside Council on Governments to create regional alliances to build more affordable housing and address homelessness in the region.
As a legislative advocate for land use and finance at Housing California, Luke worked directly with developers, service providers, tenant organizations, and legislative staff to address barriers in the production and preservation of affordable housing statewide. Most recently, Luke worked with coalition partners to create a framework of policy tools to stabilize communities while preserving and deed-restricting naturally occurring affordable housing units.
Luke was inspired to work on affordable housing policy as a teacher in District of Columbia Public Schools, where he saw firsthand the impact of housing instability on his students’ academic performance.
Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from California State University, Fullerton and a master’s degree in teaching from the University of Southern California. He lives in D.C. with his wife and is a lifelong Arsenal F.C. and Los Angeles Lakers fan.