our team

The owner, Richelle Patton, founded Collaborative Housing Solutions with decades of experience in the affordable housing industry. She possesses a depth of expertise in real estate finance and project management. She has advanced degrees in the area of City Planning, with backgrounds in accounting and urban studies. Collaborative Housing Solutions qualifies as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE).


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Richelle Patton,

President


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404.997.6786




Richelle has been in the affordable housing development field since 1994 and has been involved in the development or preservation of over 25,000 units of affordable rental housing.  She founded and serves as the chief executive of Collaborative, overseeing the management of the firm and its development projects, as well as providing development consulting to owners and housing authorities, with a specialty in LIHTCs, Section 8 rental assistance, and HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program.

Prior to this, she founded and co-led Tapestry Development Group for nine years, a successful development and consulting organization.  She previously served with a large non-profit development organization for twelve years, serving as the President of its real estate development arm in her last position.  Her expertise includes multi-layered financing and fostering collaboration between public and private sectors to develop mixed-income housing.  She serves as subject matter expert in efforts with state and federal agencies to create new and creative financing programs and policies for affordable housing development.

She has served as a speaker and trainer to a variety of stakeholder groups in the affordable housing field.  She is active with several trade associations to advocate for sound public policies that support affordable housing.  She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association and previously served as Chair of the RAD Committee of the Georgia Association of Housing and Redevelopment Authorities.   She founded and for 11 years, co-chaired the Women’s Affordable Housing Network (WAHN), an Atlanta-based effort to support women in the industry which has expanded to multiple chapters across the country, and she currently serves on the Advisory Board of the national WAHN.

She has earned several recognitions in the real estate industry including a Women in Real Estate Award from the national commercial real estate online platform Connect Media; was named one of “The Leaders” from the Women’s Leadership Initiative of the Atlanta chapter of the Urban Land Institute for her extraordinary contribution to the built environment; was named as one of the top 12 Young Leaders in Affordable Housing in the nation by Affordable Housing Finance magazine; received the Founders Award from WAHN; and received a POW! Award from the online publication Womenetics for serving as a model of a purposeful business woman.

She is a graduate of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2010.  She earned a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles and Master of City Planning from Georgia Tech.  She completed an Executive Education program within the Social Enterprise Initiative at the Harvard Business School.

She serves on several committees at her church and her children’s schools, as well as mentors younger developers in the affordable housing industry.




Thompson oversees the development process for projects in Collaborative’s portfolio, including overseeing development team members, financial modeling, and analyzing project financing.  He is also the founder and president of Park Terrace Development, a real estate development and development consulting services company with a broad range of experience in multifamily and single-family housing.

He has spent 15 years in the real estate and development industry, experiencing many different aspects of the business from managing small rural apartment projects to overseeing $50+ million development projects for large public universities.

Prior to establishing Park Terrace Development, Thompson led the southeastern regional efforts of Oracle Consulting Services, an affordable housing developer based in Louisville, Kentucky. In this role, he was responsible for the entire development process from market and site selection to completion and submittal of applications for Low Income Housing Tax Credits and continuing to lead projects to closing and beyond. He was successful in securing 9% competitive and 4% bond LIHTCs, conventional and tax-exempt debt, and historic tax credits for projects.

Prior to his tenure at Oracle, Thompson worked on similar projects at Dewar Properties (now Tishco). His other previous experience includes nearly seven years and over $100 million of development in student housing and other auxiliary student facilities, and a brief foray into renewable energy generation.

Thompson earned a Bachelor of Science in Building Construction (Construction Management) from the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a Certificate of Engineering Entrepreneurship from the same institution.

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Thompson Gooding,

Senior Development Manager


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Francisco Castellanos,

Development Manager


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Francisco assists public housing authorities (PHAs) in their efforts to reposition their public housing for projects in Collaborative’s portfolio, including overseeing the application, underwriting due diligence, and closing processes.  He brings a wide range of real estate experience that allows him to take a comprehensive approach in the development and repositioning of affordable housing.  Francisco has been involved in the repositioning of over 4,000 affordable housing units generating over $700 million in total development costs.  He currently also serves as a technical assistance provider on behalf of HUD to assist PHAs across the country in their repositioning activities using the RAD and Section 18 programs.

Prior to consulting, Francisco worked for a large housing authority with over 10,000 housing units as the RAD Program Manager, and a medium housing authority with 800 housing units as the Director of Development.  This experience affords Francisco the ability to view the development process beyond the transactional nature of it by knowing firsthand the internal challenges of a PHA when repositioning public housing units.  Francisco was responsible for financial modeling, negotiating deal terms with developer partners and navigating the RAD conversion process with HUD, state finance agencies, and other stakeholders.   He also served as the point of contact with various HUD staff regarding program operations and delivery.

Francisco’s additional real estate experience extends to working for a private affordable housing developer, employment in the elevator industry, with a leading kitchen design and distribution firm, as well as management of mortgage branches for national lenders.

Francisco earned a Bachelor’s degree in Government and Public Policy from the University of Baltimore, and a Master of Science in Government Analytics with a concentration in Statistical Analysis from the Johns Hopkins University (Degree pending).




Nicole assists public housing authorities (PHAs) in their efforts to reposition their public housing for projects in Collaborative’s portfolio, including overseeing the application, underwriting due diligence, and closing processes.

She is also the Principal of Wickliffe Consulting, LLC, a consulting services company focused on real estate development, asset management, and asset repositioning.  She serves as a technical assistance provider on behalf of HUD to assist PHAs across the country in their repositioning activities.

Nicole has over 20 years in the affordable housing industry with experience in both the private and public sectors, managing all aspects of the real estate development cycle from idea inception to exit strategy. Most recently, she spent 11 years as the Director of Asset Management at Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) where she led the conversion of the authority’s entire public housing stock (1,060 units) to the Section 8 platform through the RAD program. In addition, she has over ten years of experience in the private sector developing, repositioning, and managing affordable housing developments.

Nicole earned a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Strayer University.

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Nicole Wickliffe,

Development Manager


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