Portland developer Joe Wishcamper is one of two affordable housing “champions” being awarded for their work to expand housing opportunities for low-income families.

Wishcamper, president of the Wishcamper Cos., and Joe Hagan, president emeritus at the National Equity Fund, will be presented with the 2019 Affordable Housing Vision Award from the National Housing and Rehabilitation Association during a ceremony in Boston next month.

“His organization was an early adopter of sustainable development principals and (was) one of the first private sector affordable housing companies to become a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge,” NH&RA President Thom Amdur said. “His leadership was instrumental in several major NH&RA initiatives in recent years, including our Asset Management Council and Bond Developers Council.”

Wishcamper, of Freeport, has spent nearly 50 years as a community developer and has been involved in more than 15,000 affordable apartments during his career. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard law School, Wishcamper was the founder and first president of the Maine Real Estate Development Association, and served as the chair of the board of trustees of the University of Maine System, Maine Public Broadcasting and the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

The University of Southern Maine’s Wishcamper Center is named for Wishcamper, and his wife, Carol, both business and community leaders who have long supported the university.