Ability Housing, Inc.

Ability Housing’s goal is to build stronger communities where everyone has a home.

The solution to Florida’s growing housing crisis is clear: the greater community must preserve and create more affordable housing. Having an affordable, permanent place to call home – giving a family a front door – is key to an individual’s self, sufficiency, health, and overall wellness.

With the strategic plan as the organization’s guide, Ability Housing challenges the status quo to generate innovative solutions rooted in evidence-based practices.

The strategic plan prioritizes the following objectives:

• End chronic homelessness
• Provide mission-focused affordable housing for homeless and/or at-risk households
• Support local policies which embrace industry best practices
• Affect state systems to effectively and efficiently align housing with voluntary supportive services


The Board of Directors is deeply committed to the strategic plan priorities above. The Board developed the following goals to achieve the priorities within the strategic plan:

Goal 1: Identify developers for neighborhood revitalization efforts
Goal 2: Strengthen strategy and development capacity
Goal 3: Expand operations capabilities
Goal 4: Enhance property development plans
Goal 5: Revise demographics of properties for 2025-2026
Goal 6: Advocate for policy that impacts affordable housing

Goal 1 Strategies:
• Identify target communities and neighborhoods for 2020-2022
• Determine property-specific neighborhood engagement needs and opportunities

Goal 2 Strategies:
• Finalize strategic plan including fundraising plan
• Finalize Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Update website and revise collateral materials
• Deepen board engagement

Goal 3 Strategies:
• Hire full-time Operations Director
• Hire full-time Asset Manager
• Hire full-time Receptionist/Office Admin Support
• Implement Wayne Densch Center asset management processes
• Finalize Asset Management Manual; including transition from property development to asset management

Goal 4 Strategies:
• Hire full-time Property Development Director
• Identify annual property development milestones
• Identify general contracting partners
• Identify architect partners
• Identify new referral sources, partnerships and service needs
• Engage board in developing strategy

Goal 5 Strategies:
• Identify new referral sources, partnerships and service needs
• Engage board in developing strategy

Goal 6 Strategies:
• Position Ability Housing as topic expert on affordable and supportive housing
• Prepare for 2021 policy engagement; including developing an engagement plan/determining use of lobbyist(s)

As Ability Housing serves very low income and formerly homeless individuals, understanding the challenges faced by this population is critical to our decision-making. Two of our board members are formerly homeless; one is a former resident of our affordable and supportive housing program. They each bring invaluable experience to the development of project concepts and programming to serve low-income and formerly homeless households.

Shannon Nazworth, President & CEO, leads our agency with over 20 years’ experience in the development and operation of affordable and supportive housing. In addition to her work at Ability Housing, she chairs the Florida Council on Homelessness and is board president of the Florida Supportive Housing Coalition.

Mendy Thompson, Finance & Administration Director, oversees Ability Housing’s Finance, Operations, and HR functions. Mendy is a Florida CPA with 30 years of experience in finance, accounting, administration and operations oversight primarily related to real estate investment, development and management. Mendy has worked with a variety of product types including office, industrial, multi-family and senior living. She has worked closely with equity investors, lenders and operating partners with a focus on the full cycle of real estate. Her experience includes public, private and nonprofit environments. Mendy held senior positions with Whitehall Realty Partners, Flagler Development and St Joe prior to joining Ability Housing. She began her career with Deloitte.

Cody Spencer, Director of Programs. Cody has had the opportunity to serve individuals experiencing homelessness in the North Florida area for over 10 years. During this time, Cody has served on multiple committees ranging from Coordinated Entry System Performance to Data Quality and Equity. Prior to joining Ability Housing, Cody served as the Senior Director of Supportive Services at the Sulzbacher Center, overseeing multiple federal, state, and local grants ranging from emergency shelter programs to Permanent Supportive Housing programs. Additionally, Cody served as the community leader for the Community Solutions Built for Zero Campaign-a nationwide effort to end Veteran homelessness. Cody is an active member in several CoC Agencies, serving in Central, Northeast, and North Florida.

In 2020, Ability Housing assisted over one thousand five hundred individuals in accessing and maintaining safe, stable housing. We serve our residents through three program types: The Villages Program, CASA, and HousingLink. The Villages Program provided 1,313 individuals, 578 of which were formerly homeless, stable housing through our six multifamily rental properties. CASA served 55 individuals through our community-inclusive housing program for adults with disabilities. HousingLink is our rental assistance linked with individualized supports program that assists persons experiencing chronic homelessness access to community housing. In 2020, we served 156 individuals through the HousingLink program. This intentional and dedicated growth aligns with our strategic plan to increase the number of people we serve by 500% by 2025.