NYU Wagner alumnus Yusef Freeman is honored for his work in affordable housing finance

Recognizing his work in the creation of thousands of units of affordable housing, NYU Wagner alumnus Yusef Freeman was lauded recently as one of the sector’s “Rising Stars.”

Freeman (MPA 2013) has risen to Managing Director at McCormack Baron Salazar, a leading real estate development firm specializing in economically integrated neighborhoods, its headquarters in  St. Louis. He drew the award during a major industry event called AHF Live: The Affordable Housing Developers Summit at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.

Freeman joined McCormack Baron Salazar in 2006 as a "Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence" Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and worked on improving low-income communities in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. With the Harmony Oaks (formerly C.J. Peete) HOPE VI development, he closed the largest, single-phased tax credit deal McCormack Baron Salazar history, totaling $56 million in tax credit equity.  

In 2010, he began working on the revitalization of the Alice Griffith public housing complex in San Francisco. This community received an inaugural Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant from HUD and spurred the opening of the McCormack Baron Salazar San Francisco Office, with Freeman the leader.

He was promoted to Managing Director | West Coast Operations in 2016, three years after receiving his MPA from NYU Wagner.

Since 2008, Yusef has been responsible for closing over $533 million in investment in low-income communities that has resulted in 1,279 homes. He has been a featured speaker at the White House, has testified in front of Congress, and participates regularly in speaking engagements nationally.

An article about Yusef Freeman appears in AHF magazine.