De Blasio unveils key housing appointments

Mayor Bill de Blasio with staff announcing his new appointees
Mayor Bill de Blasio with staff announcing his new appointees

WEEKENDEDITION Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced key housing appointments that will help him reach his goal of delivering 200,000 units of low-cost housing to New York City.

Shola Olatoye, a vice president at Enterprise Community Partners, has been appointed to lead the New York City Housing Authority and oversee its 2,600 buildings, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“At Enterprise, Shola has been at the center of some of the most innovative interventions for seniors and homeless families. She will transform the agency and really improve living conditions for residents,” Ted Houghton, co-chair of Housing First! and executive director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York, said.

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The law professor and director of New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, Vicki Been, has been named to lead the Housing Preservation and Development Department.

And Gary Rodney, executive vice president overseeing development and acquisition at Omni New York, a small development firm, has been appointed to lead the Housing Development Corporation, which finances affordable housing.

Now, with key appointments made, de Blasio is expected give new details of his housing plan in the State of the City address on Monday. [WSJ] Christopher Cameron