Julia's work focuses on stabilizing the housing market, shaping the future of housing finance, and other housing-related policies.
Prior to joining American Progress, Julia managed the single-family policy team at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, focusing on aligning and improving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac policies on mortgage servicing, unemployment forbearance, and short sales and on reviewing changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family seller-servicer contracts.
Julia previously served as senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, where she focused on legislative and regulatory work related to predatory lending and foreclosure prevention policies. In that position, she provided technical assistance to congressional staff, frequently testified before Congress and other public bodies on mortgage-related matters, commented on banking and housing rulemakings, and worked extensively with the media, including appearances on the “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” “NBC Nightly News,” and “The Diane Rehm Show.”
Her background also includes many years working on legal aid policy at the Center for Law and Social Policy and other organizations, as well as working as a litigator at the law firm of WilmerHale and as an adjunct lecturer at American University’s Washington College of Law.
Julia received her bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.