Meet Sonia LaPolice, Executive Director Propiedades Adelante

Sonia LaPolice took the helm as Executive Director of Propiedades Adelante (est. 2024), the property management affiliate of the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), at the close of 2025.

With a career spanning over 20 years, Sonia has a comprehensive grasp of the property management industry. Her experience ranges from serving as a leasing agent, assistant manager, and resident manager to overseeing a vast 900-unit townhome complex in Los Angeles. While her background includes market-rate, student, and corporate housing, a significant shift occurred in 2020. Sonia chose to leave the “easy game” of market-rate management to focus her expertise on equity and community opportunity. After relocating to San Francisco in 2022, she dedicated herself to permanent supportive housing. Now, she guides Propiedades Adelante with a vision that blends professional mastery with a deep-seated commitment to the Mission community.

Learn more about Sonia and her vision for Propiedades Adelante below.

“When people ask why I moved from the “easier” world of market-rate housing to the complex landscape of affordable housing, the answer is personal. I was raised in Midtown Los Angeles, in the thick of communities where families—including my own—faced constant challenges. Later in my career, my work on political campaigns gave me a front-row seat to how the system can be set up to fail. I saw how information was often withheld and how our people were excluded, whether by design or simply as a result of how the system works.

I didn’t just want a job in management; I wanted to apply whatever skills and contributions I could make to the communities that I felt needed the help. That is why I joined the MEDA family.

What sets MEDA and Propiedades Adelante apart is their ability to act as a “supportive entity” with deep community roots—one that empowers us to not only provide stable housing but to actively challenge and change the systems that have historically set our communities up to fail. It is a significant advantage to be affiliated with a nonprofit like MEDA. There are diverse “arms” that work to provide that kind of holistic support and funnel information where it’s needed.

At Propiedades Adelante, my vision starts with establishing trust. The relationship between a landlord and a tenant is notoriously difficult, but we bridge that gap by being visible, available, and accountable. We lead by telling our residents, “We want to keep you in your home, but we need you to work with us”.

We see our housing as a stepping stone. Whether it’s helping a family save money or providing a stable foundation so they can one day achieve the American Dream of homeownership, we are here to provide that support. Sometimes people can be defensive because they don’t want to reveal they need help, so providing that support without it being asked of us is a service we must provide. My goal is to ensure that Propiedades Adelante isn’t just managing buildings, but strengthening the entire community, one household at a time.”

– Sonia LaPolice, Propiedades Adelante, Executive Director.