Who We Are

Jennifer has been a long time advocate for affordable housing and uses her past experience as a grassroots campaign manager and land use consultant to help make Housing Land Advocates as effective as possible.

Ed is a retired attorney and continues his commitment to the profession as a professor of law. Ed practiced municipal, administrative, and planning law for over 42 years and is a co-founder of Housing Land Advocates.

Ben is a professional land use planner with expertise in zoning, advocacy, and site development and design. Over the last decade, he has worked as a planning consultant with a wide variety of public, private, and non-profit organizations.

Sarah is an Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon School of Law, where she teaches Land Use Law, Local Government Law, and Ocean and Coastal Law. Her teaching, research, and service focus on environmental and housing justice, climate change, and land use. Before her academic career, she practiced law in Portland, and, before that, worked as a senior policy analyst for Metro Regional Government. She is admitted to the Oregon State Bar as a Pro Bono Member.

JT McElrath is the Cultural Events and Communications Coordinator at Sabin Community Development Corporation (Sabin CDC) in Portland, Oregon. In this role, JT leads community-centered programming that celebrates culture, strengthens neighborhood connections, and amplifies underrepresented voices.

Caleb graduated from Willamette University College of Law in 2020. In law school, he was a recipient of the Edward J. Sullivan Land Use Planning Fellowship. After law school, he served as a Staff Attorney for the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. He is a member of the Oregon State Bar’s Land Use Legislative Subcommittee and the American Planning Association’s Amicus Curiae Committee.

Jean is a veteran, mother, and LIHTC professional, seeking to create more affordable housing in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, California, and Hawaii. She is passionate about the ways our built environment can make happier, healthier, and more diverse communities. You can feel free to contact her (jdahlqu1@gmail.com) with any PAPA project questions or web errors.

Kathy is a lawyer, having graduated from Yale Law School in 1978. She spent her career as a civil rights lawyer, first in Atlanta GA where she did housing discrimination, school desegregation, sexual privacy and voting rights cases (including reapportionment in 1992), then moved to Portland where she spent nearly 20 years as Legal Director of Disability Rights Oregon. Cases included challenges to city decisions blocking the creation of housing for people with mental disabilities, where she worked with Ed Sullivan and others in his firm. She is now retired.

June is HLA’s student board member and a student at Willamette University of Law. Prior to law school, June earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University Oregon, where she also minored in Historic Preservation and Architectural History. There, she developed an interest in how legislation and regulation shape the built environment. An area of particular interest for her is the capacity of reuse and conversion as mechanisms for promoting density and sustainability and increasing housing stock. Currently, June serves as the student liaison for the ABA’s State and Local Government section and is the editor for Willamette Law Online’s LUBA service. Post-graduation, June hopes to practice in the area of land use planning law.

I was born and raised in the Northwest region of India before moving to the United States at the age of 15. My journey began with selling newspaper subscriptions at 16 and later graduating from Portland Public’s Woodrow Wilson High School, now known as Ida B. Wells High School. Initially pursuing Electrical Engineering at Portland State University, I discovered my passion for Business Administration and earned my Bachelors and MBA degree from George Fox University.

Currently, I serve as a Vice President at USI Insurance Services, a renowned insurance brokerage and consulting firm. USI specializes in providing customized solutions in property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, and retirement services across the United States. My team leverages the USI ONE™ platform, a proprietary system integrating analytics, strategic planning, and networked resources to address client business challenges effectively and deliver impactful solutions.

Ramsay Weit has nearly 40 years of experience working on affordable housing issues as a Legal Aid attorney, a public policy advisor and staff to local elected officials, and the executive director of the Community Housing Fund (CHF). Ramsay retired in 2015 from the CHF, where for 12 years he operated a CDFI revolving loan fund, providing below-market financing to nonprofit community development corporations producing new rental and homeownership opportunities in Washington County. He also partnered with local governments throughout the county to identify new resources and public policies to increase the supply of affordable housing. Ramsay worked as chief of staff to Multnomah County Commissioner Diane Linn (1998 – 2000); as commissioner’s assistant to Portland Mayor Vera Katz (1993 – 1995); and as chief of staff to Portland City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury (1991 – 1993). A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Ramsay was a practicing attorney with Multnomah County Legal Aid Service from 1975 to 1986. In addition to his law degree, he holds a bachelor’s in political science/economics from Williams College.

Reed Johnson is a second year Masters of Urban and Regional Planning student at Portland State University. Reed has worked with the Housing Land Advocates since 2025. He currently serves as a Student Board member and works as a volunteer trainer and letter-writer on the HLA’s PAPA review project. In his free time, Reed enjoys playing live music and coming up with long-winded jokes.