Your Housing Advocate- About

Founding story

Much like the mission of YHA itself, its founding story is rooted in the collective efforts of a dynamic and visionary group dedicated to advancing equity and accessibility in affordable housing. Richard Cupelli, the Founder and CEO of AffordableHousing.com, Becky Gligo, former Executive Director and founder of Housing Solutions Tulsa, and Michael Lazdowsky, Managing Director of AffordableHousing.com's Government Division and a former Housing Advocate, converged after years of collaboration in various capacities to establish this transformative non-profit.

With a shared vision, they wasted no time in conveying their mission to a wider audience and swiftly assembled a diverse and accomplished board of directors, each bringing a wealth of different backgrounds and experiences to the table, contributing a mosaic of unique perspectives. The inaugural meeting of the founding board convened in the summer of 2023, and from that point forward, YHA has continued its trajectory of growth, continually expanding it's board and cultivating valuable partnerships in it's pursuit of its mission.

Leadership

Richard Cupelli has over 20 years of experience creating innovative solutions that help solve and simplify some of the most complex challenges that impact the availability of affordable housing in the United States. As the founder and CEO of AffordableHousing.com, Richard understands the challenges families, property owners, and government agencies face on a daily basis when trying to navigate through the numerous rules and regulations associated with the hundreds of affordable housing programs throughout the country. He has responded to these challenges by developing a groundbreaking, socially responsible technology platform and the largest affordable housing network in the country. The technology and the network work together to simplify and streamline all affordable housing programs for all parties involved.

Rich’s inspiration began right out of college when he started his own real estate investment and brokerage business. In an effort to learn everything he could about his profession, Rich became a real estate broker, mortgage broker, title examiner, a stakeholder in a real estate appraisal firm and a real estate consultant. Over the next several years, Rich created multiple real estate development and rehabilitation companies, with a focus on affordable housing and community redevelopment. During this time, he acquired, re-developed, and sold over $25 million of real estate assets, oversaw and trained numerous real estate agents and acted as a consultant to many local real estate investors and equity lenders.

In a little over ten years, he had acquired over 200 homes and was a landlord to many Section 8 tenants. During this time, Rich worked closely with local housing agencies to learn everything he could about the Section 8 housing program. It was at this juncture that he learned first-hand about the tragic stories and daily struggles so many people in need of adequate affordable housing faced. That is when Rich shifted his focus, purpose, and passion. This led to the creation of GoSection8.com which soon became the largest affordable housing listing network and rent reasonableness (rent comparability) service in the country. GoSection8.com’s proprietary rent reasonable software is used by most housing agencies in the United States and, since inception, has saved housing agencies and taxpayers more than $4 billion dollars. The success of Rich’s creation was further acknowledged when the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published the first rent reasonableness handbook in 2007 and asked Rich to provide practical knowledge and insight which helped establish the official definition of “rent reasonableness” that is still used today.

After 17 years of continuous growth, GoSection8.com evolved into AffordableHousing.com. AffordableHousing.com’s new modern platform is accessed by tens of millions of visitors, who perform hundreds of millions of searches each year. AffordableHousing.com serves all affordable housing programs and is pioneering a new standard for affordable housing by taking complexity out of the process.

Recognized by policymakers, housing agencies and industry peers as a top tier thought leader, Rich serves as an adviser to the White House Domestic Policy Council and the HUD Policy Development and Research Department, as well as various high-profile university and private sector research projects. Rich has also established collaboration partnerships with respected housing experts, program administration professionals and community development strategists.

Under Rich’s entrepreneurial drive and compassionate spirit, the company maintains a mission-driven team of more than 100 dedicated individuals. Each member strives to make affordable housing more accessible to the tens of millions of Americans who need reliable and efficient options when seeking an affordable place to call home. Rich’s mission and core values are reflected with each new software and service program and with AffordableHousing.com, the most impactful affordable housing solutions are yet to come.