How do you make limited‑equity housing co‑ops work on a community land trust? What does it take to convert a manufactured home community into resident ownership? And what exactly is a permanent real estate co‑op?
If you’ve ever wished for clear, practical explanations of the shared equity models helping communities secure permanently affordable housing, this webinar is for you.
Join the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF)’s Affordable Housing Initiative as we debut the new Catalog of Shared Equity Housing Models—a first‑of‑its‑kind resource built for community organizers, practitioners, lenders, developers and advocates working to keep residents rooted in the places they call home.
Across the country, communities are responding to urgent housing pressures with innovative, locally driven solutions. Yet even as momentum grows—from public officials to tenant coalitions to grassroots organizers—the field still lacks accessible, real‑world information about the models driving that work. Our new catalog closes that gap with clear descriptions, actionable insights, and examples from the ground.
Meet our speakers
Andy Zhu
Principal and Co-Founder | MFX Ventures
Andy Zhu is the co-founder and principal of MFX Ventures, where he manages client coordination, business development, and investment structuring. MFX Ventures is a real estate financial analysis and development consulting company that has worked on 500M in projects across affordable housing, build-to-rent, workforce housing, mixed-use, hospitality, and other projects. He is passionate about discovering innovative uses of our resources to provide accessible, safe, and healthy homes for all, and is focused on providing purpose-built spaces for current and future generations.
Andy is a trusted voice in the development and investment sphere, having amassed a following of over 100,000 on TikTok who listen to his thoughts about markets and the future of investing (@genzrebuilds). He also has been a featured speaker on the CREative Talks Real Estate Podcast, the National Rental Home Council’s Annual Conference, Conservice’s Inaugural Single Family Home Conference as well as several appearances on the IMN conference circuit. He graduated Vanderbilt Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with degrees in Political Science and Medicine, Health, and Society, and is one of the proud few remaining Nashville natives.
April De Simone
Managing Principal | Publius No. 1
April De Simone is a transdisciplinary practitioner who leads a portfolio of purpose-driven companies. She works with clients and partners across sectors, regions and scales to shape systems and environments that balance public benefit, responsible resource use and social impact. Her practice extends from policy, strategy, research and design to engagement and project management. Across this portfolio, she builds the structures and relationships that help groups align around shared goals, collaborate with clarity, and translate values into deliverable and measurable outcomes.
Ms. De Simone has led nationally-recognized initiatives including Undesign the Redline and The Practice of Democracy, an immersive exhibition featured on the High Line in New York City. Her research has been presented alongside scholars such as Richard Rothstein and Dr. Mindy Fullilove. Her portfolio integrates policy, investment, design, civic engagement and beyond to center impact over extraction, align agency and apply shared-value theory, cultivating purpose-led futures. Each effort is guided by principles that emphasize dignity, shared stewardship and long term stability. These principles are applied across social, environmental and civic systems to support lasting and responsible outcomes.
Victoria (Tory) Clark-West
Executive Director | CoNorth
Tory serves as Executive Director of CoNorth (formerly Northcountry Cooperative Foundation), where she leads the organization’s strategy, advocacy, fundraising and capitalization efforts, as well as new program development. She was promoted to Executive Director in 2020 after several years of hands-on experience in the organization’s real estate development and cooperative governance and technical advising. Tory joined NCF in 2016 as a cooperative technical assistance provider, working directly with resident-owned manufactured home communities across the region. In 2019, she was promoted to lead NCF’s real estate development work—building the organization’s project pipeline, conducting financial analysis and due diligence for acquisitions, and preparing debt and equity financing applications for cooperative housing developments.
Tory is a graduate of the Housing Development Finance Professional (HDFP) Certificate Program, offered by Grow America (formerly the National Development Council). She brings over a decade of experience in the affordable housing sector.