Robert Finn 

Vice President, Policy and Research
rfinn@communityprogress.org

Robert E. Finn is the Vice President of Policy and Research at the Community Progress, America’s nonprofit leader for turning “Vacant Spaces into Vibrant Places.”

Finn oversees the development and management of an active policy advocacy program focused on building new policy responses to vacancy and abandonment at the state and federal levels.

Prior to joining Community Progress, Finn was the Legislative Affairs Director for the District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. In that role, he led a team of attorneys in the development and implementation of legislation and regulations aimed to protect vulnerable tenants and consumers, improve the District’s vacant building enforcement program and adopt updated construction codes.

Finn also served as Senior Policy Associate at the National Community Stabilization Trust, where he developed and advanced policies at the federal, state and local levels to benefit communities harmed by distressed properties and hypervacancy.

A native of Jersey City, New Jersey, Finn practiced law with a diverse litigation portfolio that included landlord-tenant, employment, civil rights and complex commercial litigation, as well as extensive appellate experience at the state and federal levels. He served for six years as the Tenant Advocate and Special Housing Prosecutor for the Township of North Bergen. Finn completed a fellowship in the Housing Law Unit of South Brooklyn Legal Services and is a certified mediator.

Finn received his JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and his BA with Honors from Wesleyan University. He works out of the National Office in Washington, DC and lives with his husband in Prince George’s County, Maryland.