Lou Mellman
Partner, California Commercial Investment Group
Lou graduated from California State University at Northridge with a BS in Business Administration, with an emphasis on finance and real estate and began his successful career in commercial real estate 30 years ago.
After purchasing their first HUD housing property in 2003, Lou and CCI investors have shifted their focus to the acquisition, management and holding of Elderly Project-Based Section 8 apartment buildings as long term investments. He continues to believe in upgrading the properties to add value to the property and improve the quality of life for the senior residents.
Based on his knowledge and success in the HUD housing arena, his mission is to grow the company’s portfolio of affordable housing projects providing more opportunities for the lower income community to have a safe and clean place to life.
Lou also participates in charitable events for the Jewish home of the Aging, Casa Pacifica, Habitat for Humanity and Temple Adat Elohim.
Tom Lungin
Partner, California Commercial Investment Group
After receiving a BS degree in International Business from San Diego State University, Tom began his career in the real estate industry in 2002. As a partner in CCI, his primary focus became growing the CCI portfolio of properties to include affordable housing for the elderly through HUD. After securing the purchase of the property, Tom continues to participate as a consultant to oversee the management of these properties, which consist of more than 5,500 units in 26 states.
It has been his personal mission to preserve and promote affordable housing and to provide added services while enhancing the tenant’s personal wellbeing allowing them to comfortably age in place.
Due to his success and experience with helping provide decent, safe housing for lower income residents, Tom has expanded his role in the nonprofit world and is now president of several non-profit entities that offer affordable housing throughout the Los Angeles area.
Linda Braunschweiger
President and Director
Ms. Braunschweiger has spent over thirty-five years in finance, affordable housing development, non-profit management, and business. She spent many years in public affairs and lobbying at the federal, state and local levels. Early in her career, Ms. Braunschweiger worked in Washington D.C. for the White House and U.S. Senate. Then after years in the corporate environment (primarily banking and finance), Ms. Braunschweiger launched Braunschweiger & Associates (B&A) in 1999 assisting clients with affordable housing policy strategies and financing, strategic planning, and nonprofit management.
In 2010, Ms. Braunschweiger became the founding contract CEO, becoming a full time employee in 2017, of the Housing Trust Fund Ventura County. In her role as CEO, she helped orchestrate the formation of HTFVC, raised over $20M in public, private and charitable funds, and produced $26M in short term loans of which the majority has already been repaid, producing 1110 new workforce affordable housing units. She manages and guides a nineteen member board of directors and is the primary visionary for the strategic direction of the Housing Trust Fund. Under her leadership, HTFVC became a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) at the Federal and State level.
Ms. Braunschweiger spearheaded in 2020 the creation of the Housing Land Trust Ventura County, a supporting nonprofit of HTFVC. The Land Trust’s mission is to preserve donated land for the development of affordable housing in perpetuity. HLTVC’s first donated piece of land is in the City of Oxnard with a proposed homeless shelter and 55 affordable rental units.
In 2021 and 2022, Ms. Braunschweiger was selected as one of the Pacific Coast Business Times “Top 50 Women in Business” from San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. In 2022, she was named 2022 Rodney E. Fernandez Excellence in Visionary Leadership Award by the Ventura County Community Development Corporation. Ms. Braunschweiger has a BA in Speech Communications and Industrial Psychology and an MBA with a focus in Public Policy.
Stephen Watson
Realtor
Stephen has 30 years’ experience as real estate broker and investment real estate manager.
He has great interest in serving his community and preserving and providing low-income housing. His professional experience and knowledge give him unique insight into how properties function and assists him in his active community roles which include serving on many non-profit boards. He currently serves on the board of the Midnight Mission of Downtown Los Angeles, a homeless facility for men and women; the West End Group, facilitating 12 step recovery meeting sites; and is working with the endowment fund for Loyola High School. Stephen also sits on several boards of non-profit organizations that provide low-income housing in Los Angeles. These include LA Gardens Community Association, Casa Community Association, Mariposa Senior Association and New Brittany Housing Foundation.
Scott Heaton
Secretary and Director
With more than 40 years of experience in the real estate world, Scott’s had the advantage of working in a wide variety of industry segments, including title insurance, escrow, mortgage lending, multi-family syndication, development, project management, entitlement processing and property management. When he retired 12/31/23, Scott had spent the previous 24 years in a senior management role for a real estate Owner/Operator who specializes in HUD based low-income housing for Seniors and the Disabled. During that time, Scott was responsible for day to day oversight of the property management division, including revenue goals, HUD compliance, REAC & MOR inspections/audits, property maintenance, including building rehabilitation and various other HUD initiatives and guidelines. At his retirement, Scott oversaw approx. 9,000 affordable and conventional apartment units across 30 states and more than 300 employees.
Since retiring, Scott has continued to keep his feet in the multi-family arena by consulting for firms committed to the affordable housing industry.
Gary Collett
Partner, California Commercial Investment Group
Gary has been a significant presence in the California, national and international real estate communities for more than 36 years. Over the span of his career, Gary has owned and managed several thousand apartment units, office buildings, shopping centers, large land developments and condominiums. Over the past 15 years, Gary has focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of HUD housing for the elderly. As a CCI Partner, Gary owns and operates a HUD portfolio totaling more than 5,500 apartment units located in 26 states.
To improve the lives of elderly residents, Gary and CCI provides “service coordinators” to help residents understand and coordinate available community services.
Gary’s other nonprofit work includes bringing religious communities together for better understanding; Casa Pacifica; Habitat for Humanity He regularly volunteers to support and build houses in Mexico for the “Door of Faith Orphanage.”
Jeff Kerns
Senior Vice President at Walker and Dunlop
Jeff is an 18-year veteran of the commercial mortgage finance industry. Since 2002, Jeff has specialized in FHA and Agency loan origination with an emphasis in the affordable housing sector. Jeff has successfully procured debt and equity financing for market rate apartments as well as mixed income and affordable housing projects with low-income housing tax credits, tax-exempt bonds and Section 8 subsidies. He has been successful in working with existing stabilized assets, properties undergoing re-positioning and ground-up development projects.
Walker and Dunlop the largest commercial mortgage banking company in the country. Jeff is responsible for originating debt and equity financing for market rate and affordable housing properties for clients nationwide.
Jeff is an active member of several multi-family and affordable housing trade organizations including AHMA (Affordable Housing Management Association) and the California Council for Affordable Housing. Jeff has served on and moderated numerous panels related to FHA financing and affordable housing, and he also serves on the Advisory Board for an Orange County based non–profit affordable housing developer.
Jeff holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California, Irvine and remains a passionate supporter of the Anteater’ basketball program.