Joan Ling  - Commissioner

Joan Ling was appointed to the Board of Commissioners of the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and approved by the Los Angeles City Council on October 12, 2005. Ms. Ling is CRA/LA’s board treasurer.

Ms. Ling is a real estate advisor and policy analyst in urban planning. She brings 30 years of experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors: she has worked as an affordable housing developer, property manager, real estate financial analyst, government loan underwriter, and community planner.

Ms. Ling has taken about 60 development projects (1,400 units) from acquisition through entitlement, financing, construction, marketing, and building operations. Her projects include the first multi-family structure in the country awarded the gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) as well as two buildings that received the National American Institute of Architect’s Design Honor Awards.

Ms. Ling has used her hands-on experience to improve public policy, legislation, and government regulations. Among the many issues she has affected, the high impact ones include reforming the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to streamline affordable and urban in-fill housing production, negotiating the California Mello Act implementation in Los Angeles, running a successful voter initiative to authorize affordable housing development under Article 34 of the California Constitution, passing local ordinances giving land use incentives and protections for affordable housing development projects, and advocating for more and better targeted financial resources in California’s tax credit and bond-funded housing programs. She is currently working on promoting a range of housing choices at the nexus between employment centers and transit stations in Los Angeles, land use incentives for affordable housing and a dedicated funding source in California.

Ms Ling served as the Executive Director of Community Corporation of Santa Monica for 20 years. Her previous employers include the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission, Kotin, Regan, and Mouchly, Inc. and The Planning Group. She currently serves as the Treasurer of the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles City and a director on the Housing California board.

Ms. Ling is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Chatham College in Pennsylvania and received her M.A. degree from the UCLA Urban Planning Department. She also holds a certificate from Harvard Kennedy School of Government after completing an 18-month program in Achieving Excellence in Community Development. Fannie Mae Foundation honored her as a National James A. Johnson Fellow. She teaches real estate, housing and planning courses at the university level.