James “Jim” Brooks, AICP, is Vice President, Housing And Community Development. As part of his role, Jim leads work around the organization’s mixed-income housing program and urban planning efforts, critical components of Purpose Built Communities’ transformative model.

Jim manages housing and neighborhood development strategies that ensure Purpose Built and its Network Members leverage industry best practices and innovative approaches that change neighborhoods and lives. He is an urban planner and a national expert in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and a variety of federal housing grant programs, including Choice Neighborhoods, HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration, and Section 8, among others.

In 1997, Jim founded and for the next 25 years served as CEO of Boulevard Group, an award-winning national firm that specialized in planning and managing urban revitalization projects. He has led planning and development efforts for major projects across the United States, including such diverse cities as Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Birmingham and Charlotte, with a development value of over $2 billion.

Projects he has planned and developed have won the prestigious Congress for New Urbanism Charter Award of Excellence and the National AIA Honor Award. He was twice named to the Fortune Magazine Inner City 100 list.

Before founding Boulevard Group, Jim dedicated 18 years to the public sector as a city planner and public official. He is the former Deputy Executive Director for Development for the Atlanta Housing Authority, where he helped lead the team that planned Centennial Place and Villages at East Lake, the mixed-income, mixed-use communities that became national models for urban housing development and affordable housing revitalization. Prior to his tenure with AHA, he was a Senior Planning and Development Officer for the City of Atlanta/Fulton County. He is a graduate of Georgia State University.