Demetria McCain joined LDF in July 2024 as its Director of Policy. In this role, Demetria leads the organization’s policy team and its diverse policy advocacy portfolio, including working with senior leadership to set the strategic direction for the organization’s legislative, policy and advocacy work in criminal justice, economic justice, education and political participation.
Demetria joins LDF from the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where she served as the appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from September 2021 through June 2024. As the head of FHEO, she worked to advance the office’s mission to eliminate housing discrimination, promote economic opportunity, and achieve diverse, inclusive communities. Demetria brings a wealth of experience and deep understanding to the role as an esteemed practitioner of public policy. Her demonstrated record and expertise in efforts of racial justice, ranging from economic justice to fair housing to support of low-income and diverse communities, serves as an asset to LDF and the work the organization does nationwide.
Prior to her role at HUD, Demetria served as president of the Inclusive Communities Project (ICP), a Dallas, Texas-based affordable fair housing nonprofit. Within her various leadership roles during her fifteen-year span there, she oversaw operations, research and public education campaigns, and the Mobility Assistance Program, a housing mobility program for low-income housing choice voucher families who sought moves to well-resourced low-poverty areas. She also created and oversaw “Voices for Opportunity,” an advocacy training program for low-income renters, homeowners and allies. Prior to joining ICP, McCain served as a staff attorney for the National Housing Law Project as an Equal Justice Fellow and at the Neighborhood Legal Services Program of Washington, DC.
Demetria has been a sought after commenter on affordable fair housing issues, and in 2015 she received the Texas Houser Award, which recognizes those committed to the cause of housing justice. Her many years of committed civic engagement, through Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and her church, has focused on voter registration, education and mobilization. She has served on several local and national nonprofit boards and is a graduate of New York University, Brooklyn College and Howard University School of Law.
