Boston Affordable Housing

Ms. Dara Kovel is the Chief Executive Officer of Beacon Communities LLC, a multi-family housing development, investment, and management company with properties throughout New England, New York, and the eastern seaboard. The company currently owns over 100 communities with more than 18,000 units of housing, with a wide variety of affordable, mixed income and mixed-use projects. Beacon has over 50 years of history creating and maintaining award-winning residential communities that serve a diverse cross-section of society that make enduring contributions to the vitality of the cities and towns where they are located. Dara began at Beacon in 2015 as President of Beacon Communities Development LLC, overseeing the all development activities for Beacon Communities. Dara has been actively involved in the development of affordable housing her whole career. Prior to her joining Beacon, she was Vice President and Chief Housing Officer at the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) where she oversaw all multifamily lending and tax credit allocation activities, as well as the homeownership programs. Before working at CHFA, Dara ran the New England office of Jonathan Rose Companies, a New York-based, green, real estate development and investment company. Her previous work was with Mercy Housing California, where she ran the Southern California office and developed affordable housing throughout the state of California. Dara currently serves on the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s Advisory Council, Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center’s Workforce Housing Board and the Home Connecticut Steering Committee. She is LEED accredited and holds a BA and MBA from Yale University.

Councilor Edwards has spent her entire career as an advocate, activist, and as a voice on behalf of society's most vulnerable. She served as the deputy director within the Mayor's Office of Housing Stability where she was responsible for developing and delivering innovative solutions to fight displacement and brought together all stakeholders: landlords, management companies, housing authorities, and tenants. Councilor Edwards worked as a public interest attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services focusing on labor issues such as fighting for access to unemployment insurance, back wages, fair treatment for domestic workers, and combating human trafficking. She served as the statewide campaign coordinator for the Massachusetts Coalition for Domestic Workers, which advocated for the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. In 2015, she was named an honorable mention for Bostonian of the Year by the Boston Globe. Her mother is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and current union worker with the Veterans Administration. She raised both Councilor Edwards and her twin sister. Councilor Edwards graduated from American University Washington College of Law and received a LLM in taxation from Boston University School of Law.