THE HOUSING INNOVATIONS TEAM
Suzanne Wagner is co-founder and principal of Housing Innovations. As a social worker who loves data, Suzanne partners with organizations and communities to develop practical and innovative solutions. She has over 30 years of experience in the design and delivery of housing programs and services for people experiencing homelessness, ranging from adolescents and families to single adults with complex needs. She has provided training and consultation to hundreds of nonprofit and public agencies throughout the country, helping them to expand their capacity to provide effective services and implement evidence-based practices (EBP’s) that are proven to end homelessness. She is a trusted and respected expert in the field with seasoned group facilitation skills and a practical understanding of how to achieve the best outcomes for organizations, communities, and clients
Prior to co-founding Housing Innovations, Suzanne was the Director of the Housing Resource Center (HRC) at the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS) for 15 years. Suzanne has advised hundreds of non-profits on best practices in ending homelessness including prevention, outreach, shelter, rental assistance programs and supportive housing. Suzanne holds a Master Degree in Social Work from Columbia University and a Bachelor Degree from Barnard College.
Andrea White is co-founder and principal of Housing Innovations. Andrea has over 30 years experience in supportive housing, service delivery, curricula development and the implementation of evidence based practices. She delivers expert training on service delivery models and evidence based practices for ending homelessness and meeting program, funding, and client goals. She develops service delivery curricula on the use of mainstream resources for direct care staff working with people who have complex needs, and those providing housing stabilization services in supportive housing programs. In addition to her work with communities small and large, she has provided training and technical assistance to federal clients such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, helping staff and leadership implement a range of evidence based practices.
Prior to co-founding Housing Innovations Andrea was responsible for providing training, information and technical assistance to social service, homeless and housing organizations, both in New York City and nationally as the Chief Program Officer for the Center for Urban Community Services Housing Resource Center. Andrea holds a Master Degree in Social Work from Columbia University and a Bachelor Degree from Wells College.
Howard Burchman is co-founder and principal of Housing Innovations. Howard Burchman develops solutions to end homelessness, coordinates and facilitates homeless services planning and evaluates strategies for assisting special needs housing nationally.
Howard has over 30 years of experience in the development of programs and curriculums that focus on the integration of evidence based practices to improve program design and outcomes. Prior to co-founding Housing Innovations, Howard was the founding partner of Burchman, Terrio, Quist, LLC a preeminent technical assistance, project management and planning firm that specialized in community based housing, health and behavioral health solutions for HIV/AIDS, addictions, mental health, and homelessness.
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Howard also served as a consultant to the New York Coalition for the Homeless in the very earliest stages of homeless services policy development and worked with the first organizations in New York that developed supportive housing, residential health care facilities and ambulatory care facilities for people living with HIV/AIDS. Howard holds a degree in Political Science from Middlebury College.
Lauren Pareti
Senior Associate
Lauren Pareti joined Housing Innovations as the Senior Associate in 2013 with more than 20 years of experience working to increase access to housing and improve service quality for homeless, disabled and low-income people. Since joining the team, her projects have included providing training and technical assistance for VA homeless programs and developing a Standard Practices Manual for HUD-VASH, design of coordinated entry systems in Rhode Island, Virginia, Minnesota and Ohio; providing strategic guidance and assistance in preparing the annual HUD application to Continuums of Care in Connecticut, Michigan, Maryland, Montana, New York, and Virginia; and planning Continuous Quality Improvement strategies to strengthen client outcomes.
Prior to joining Housing Innovations, Ms. Pareti was the Director of Training and Consulting at the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS), where she led a team that trained more than 5,000 direct care staff annually and provided consultation to human service organizations throughout the nation.
Ms. Pareti has a background in community organizing, is a graduate of Rutgers University and began her career as a case manager at a supportive housing program serving people with psychiatric disabilities in New Jersey.
Matt White
Senior Associate
For 25 years Matt has been working with communities to design and implement effective Continuum of Care systems for persons experiencing homelessness and at imminent risk of homelessness. He specializes in homeless system policy development and implementation, research and evaluation, and refinement of Coordinated Entry System (CES) processes. Mr. White’s homeless system technical assistance expertise includes improving data collection and analysis capabilities, evaluating the effectiveness of homeless systems, and leading strategic planning and facilitation engagements to reorient homeless services. His recent work in the past 10 years focuses on developing more effective CES management processes and improving crisis response system operations.
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Mr. White started his professional career working with a nationally recognized non-profit (Community Shelter Board in Columbus, OH) that pioneered the use of data-based decision making and performance-based contracting to manage homeless systems. Mr. White then worked for fifteen years at Abt Associates as a senior member of the team focused on homelessness research and policy refinement at the federal level.
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Matt White has both a BA and MA from Columbia University in American Studies and a master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico.
Liz Isaacs
Associate
Lauren Pareti joined Housing Innovations as a Senior Associate in 2013 with more than 20 years of experience working to increase access to housing and improve service quality for homeless, disabled and low-income people. Since joining HI, her projects have included providing training and technical assistance for VA homeless programs and developing a Standard Practices Manual for HUD-VASH, design of coordinated entry systems in Rhode Island, Virginia, Minnesota and Ohio; providing strategic guidance and assistance in preparing the annual HUD application to Continuums of Care in Connecticut, Michigan, Maryland, Montana, New York, and Virginia; and planning Continuous Quality Improvement strategies to strengthen client outcomes.
Prior to joining Housing Innovations, Ms. Pareti was the Director of Training and Consulting at the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS), where she led a team that trained more than 5,000 direct care staff annually and provided consultation to human service organizations throughout the nation. Ms. Pareti has a background in community organizing, is a graduate of Rutgers University and began her career as a case manager at a supportive housing program serving people with psychiatric disabilities in New Jersey.
Myles Wensek
Associate
For the past 25 years Matt White has been working with communities to design and implement effective Continuum of Care systems for persons experiencing homelessness and at imminent risk of homelessness. He specializes in homeless system policy development and implementation, research and evaluation, and refinement of Coordinated Entry System (CES) processes. Mr. White’s homeless system technical assistance expertise includes improving data collection and analysis capabilities, evaluating the effectiveness of homeless systems, and leading strategic planning and facilitation engagements to reorient homeless services. His recent work in the past 10 years focuses on developing more effective CES management processes and improving crisis response system operations so limited CoC resources are allocated according to CoC prioritization policies and increasing inflow demands.
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Mr. White started his professional career working with a nationally recognized non-profit (Community Shelter Board in Columbus, OH) that pioneered the use of data-based decision making and performance-based contracting to manage homeless systems. After leaving CSB, Mr. White worked fifteen years at Abt Associates as a senior member of the team focused on homelessness research and policy refinement at the federal level.
Arif Holmes
Associate
Lauren Pareti joined Housing Innovations (HI) as the Senior Associate in 2013 with more than 20 years of experience working to increase access to housing and improve service quality for homeless, disabled and low-income people. Since joining HI, her projects have included providing training and technical assistance for VA homeless programs and developing a Standard Practices Manual for HUD-VASH, design of coordinated entry systems in Rhode Island, Virginia, Minnesota and Ohio; providing strategic guidance and assistance in preparing the annual HUD application to Continuums of Care in Connecticut, Michigan, Maryland, Montana, New York, and Virginia; and planning Continuous Quality Improvement strategies to strengthen client outcomes.
Prior to joining Housing Innovations, Ms. Pareti was the Director of Training and Consulting at the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS), where she led a team that trained more than 5,000 direct care staff annually and provided consultation to human service organizations throughout the nation. Ms. Pareti has a background in community organizing, is a graduate of Rutgers University and began her career as a case manager at a supportive housing program serving people with psychiatric disabilities in New Jersey.
Shannon Quinn-Sheeran
Associate
Shannon Quinn-Sheeran joined Housing Innovations in 2018 with more than 11 years of experience working to increase access to housing and services for people living with HIV/AIDS and those experiencing homelessness. She began her career as a case manager for people with HIV/AIDS.
Prior to joining Housing Innovations, Ms. Quinn-Sheeran was the Director of the Scranton/Lackawanna County Continuum of Care (CoC) and Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) Administrator. As HMIS Administrator she managed the database for homeless service providers, provided training, developed policy and data quality improvement initiatives, and compiled and submitted regional and federal reporting. As CoC Director, she prepared the HUD Consolidated Application, led efforts to increase access to housing and foster collaboration among community partners, co-led the team of Veteran housing providers which declared an end to Veteran homelessness in Scranton, and brought valuable training resources to area providers to improve quality of care and system performance.
Ms. Quinn-Sheeran is a graduate of the University of Scranton, holding a B.S. in Psychology.