About Us

Our Story

The world urgently needs more affordable housing.

Chrysalis is here to change the game—helping emerging housing entities scale their impact faster.

For over 20 years, the Affordable Housing Institute (AHI) has worked in emerging markets where quality, affordable, and sustainable housing is hardest to access. The Chrysalis Housing Impact Accelerator advances AHI’s mission through an intensive, hands-on partnership with rising housing organizations and their leaders—accelerating growth, expanding reach, and amplifying impact. Chrysalis deepens our work by directly building the capacity of organizations committed to increasing the availability and accessibility of sustainable, affordable housing in their markets.

Our Mission

Empowering housing changemakers, scaling impact-driven solutions, and building sustainable entities by creating a trusted Housing Accelerator for Emerging Markets.

Our Team

The Chrysalis team at AHI is a passionate group of housing experts, program designers and trainers, and policy strategists dedicated to shaping the future of inclusive, sustainable housing. Through our accelerator training program, we mentor and support innovators tackling housing challenges around the world. With a blend of global experience and deep local insight, we’re here to guide bold ideas into scalable, affordable, and equitable housing solutions.

Debra Erb
Director, Chrysalis

Debra Erb is a seasoned housing finance executive with over 30 years of global experience. She most recently served as Managing Director of Social Infrastructure at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, where she led the commitment of over $2.5 billion in housing and real estate transactions across 31 countries.

A former mortgage banker and Senior Director at the Mortgage Bankers Association, Debra has advanced housing finance education worldwide, designing training programs across emerging markets. She also founded Societas, a nonprofit focused on real estate finance education and technical assistance. Debra serves on several international housing boards and holds a Master’s in Public Administration with executive training from Georgetown, the U.S. Treasury Executive Institute, and Tuck School of Business.

Sanjana Sidhra
Director, AHI 

Sanjana Sidhra is an urban development professional with over six years of experience in affordable housing, gender-inclusive development, and policy advisory across emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. At AHI, she manages the organization’s International Development Consulting (IDC) assignments, collaborating with governments, multilateral development agencies, and financial institutions to design and implement sustainable housing solutions. Her work spans housing policy design, housing finance product development, affordability modeling, subsidy design, and legal-regulatory frameworks. Sanjana has contributed to a range of projects in over 12 countries, supporting the development of sustainable housing systems globally.

As the Program Manager for Chrysalis, Sanjana co-developed the 20-week curriculum and manages the daily coordination of the program. She holds a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Architecture from Mumbai University. Outside of work, she enjoys hosting and cooking for loved ones.

Anya Brickman Raredon
CEO, AHI  

Anya Brickman Raredon has been with AHI since 2013 and has been instrumental in developing AHI into a dynamic organization with global reach and impact. She directs projects worldwide including strategic planning with affordable housing entities, designing affordable housing strategies, analyzing housing affordability, mapping housing value chains, and developing financial models to provide access to housing finance for low-income families.Previously, she worked with Oxfam America and MIT on post-earthquake housing in Haiti. Anya holds a Master’s in City Planning from MIT, a BA in Architecture from Yale, and certifications in international law and housing finance. She speaks Spanish and has basic French and Haitian Kreyol. Outside of work, she enjoys choreographing dances.

David Smith
Founder and Chairman
of the Board, AHI 

David A. Smith is the founder and Chairman of AHI’s Board of Directors and a globally recognized expert in affordable housing with 45 years of experience spanning over 50 countries. He combines deep practical and policy expertise, advising governments and institutions worldwide, and has provided key analysis to U.S. entities including Congress, HUD, and the Congressional Budget Office.

David also founded Recap Real Estate Advisors, a leader in complex affordable housing transactions. A Harvard graduate, Harvard Professor, and award-winning author, he has published over 400 articles and a textbook, and received lifetime achievement awards from NAHRO and NH&RA. He is also the author of the Marathon science fiction trilogy.

Larry English
Senior Affordable
Housing Expert, AHI 

With 35 years as a CEO, entrepreneur, and advisor in international development and investment in 29 countries, Larry English has shaped transformative approaches to housing, urban planning, and development finance across 37 countries in Africa. His career spans policy, planning, finance, and implementation, with expertise in architecture, urban design, housing finance, and institutional structuring.

Currently a Senior Affordable Housing Expert at the Affordable Housing Institute (AHI), Larry previously led Urbuntu and its ventures in Kenya, advised development banks across Africa and Asia, and served as CEO of Reall and Homeless International, where he built innovative financing models and housing enterprises that transformed cities and communities. He has also taught at Cambridge, Harvard Business School, and universities worldwide.

Campbell Mayer
Senior Project Manager,
AHI

Campbell Mayer is an innovative housing practitioner with deep experience advancing affordable housing in emerging markets. He began his career as an architect in Colorado, designing worker housing, and went on to lead community development projects in Central America and Uganda, where he helped plan and build a 147-unit village that increased land ownership among women.

After encountering the limits of nonprofit models, Campbell earned a Master’s in City Planning from MIT and launched a housing development and advisory firm in Ghana. At MIT, he also co-founded a field lab in South Africa focused on informal value creation and community entrepreneurship. For over a decade, he has forged partnerships with local developers and crafted strategies to both unlock market value and address housing market failures. As a Senior Project Manager at AHI, Campbell focuses on building developer capacity and enabling investment to scale affordable housing globally.

Anushka Shahdadpuri
Senior Analyst,
AHI 

Anushka Shahdadpuri is a Senior Analyst at AHI, where she advances access to low-income affordable housing through strategic advising and market assessments, currently focused on Trinidad and Tobago and the Chrysalis Housing Impact Accelerator. Her passion for housing justice stems from growing up in a Sindhi refugee colony in Mumbai and founding Aamchi, a grassroots organization for participatory redevelopment in India.

Anushka has worked across South Asia, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and North America on housing, climate policy, and sustainable real estate, with experience in PPPs and policy development. She holds a Master of City Planning from MIT and a Bachelor’s in Architecture from India. Outside of work, she enjoys Kathak dance, cooking, swimming, lifting, and traveling.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Chrysalis Housing Impact Accelerator focuses on enabling housing developers, builders, suppliers, and financiers through classes, mentorship, and coaching to accelerate their impact and ultimately exponentially grow affordable housing worldwide.

  • The application cycle has ended and will recur annually. If you are interested in being considered for our next cohort, please contact us with a brief description of your company and impact focus area.

  • Reach out via our contact us page with a description of your expertise and interest.

  • There is a co-pay to be part of the Chrysalis Housing Impact Accelerator but scholarships are available as needed. In addition to a fee, participation requires a time investment of 9–12 hours per week for online classes, workshops, one-on-one sessions, and applied assignments designed to directly benefit your organization.

  • Chrysalis is creating an academy for housing practitioners in rapidly urbanizing markets. The purpose is to align the growth ambitions of emerging market housing developers with investor capital required to build effective organizations and quality affordable housing projects. Chrysalis will meet entities where they are and create a customized path of support – including classes, mentorship, and coaching – to help entities find the best path to growth, impact, and investment within their particular market.

  • Entities will actively participate for six months. Post-participation support will also be available to participating entities on an as-needed basis, along with opportunities to stay connected to an alumni network.

  • Participants will graduate from Chrysalis with the tools, networks, and confidence to scale their organizations and expand affordable housing delivery. Outcomes include: 

    • A tailored growth and investment strategy for the organization.

    • Strengthened leadership capacity, governance, and management practices.

    • Improved ability to design, finance, and deliver housing projects at scale.

    • Access to a network of peers, mentors, and potential investors.

    • Ongoing connection to the Chrysalis alumni community for continued support.

    Ultimately, participants will leave the program growth-ready, investment-ready, and better equipped to increase their impact in creating sustainable, affordable housing.

  • The scale of compounding housing deficits that afflicts most markets today continues to grow – despite significant progress in lowering construction costs, de-risking project execution strategies, and accessing project capital.

    AHI lauched the Chrysalis Housing Impact Accelerator to transform and catalyze impactful housing entities and connect them with entrepreneurial knowledge, institutional frameworks, and private capital to upscale housing for all.

Be Part of the Change

Interested in learning more about Chrysalis and our mission to develop the next generation of housing leaders?

Contact Us