She’s the latest in a wave of top officials leaving the de Blasio administration.
Maria Torres-Springer is heading for the private sector after two years serving as the commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In March, Torres-Springer will become vice president of U.S. programs at the Ford Foundation.
Her departure follows similar announcements from Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, who has also worked on de Blasio’s affordable-housing initiative, and the heads of the Department of Buildings, the Taxi and Limousine Commission and the Office of Emergency Management.
Torres-Springer joined HPD in early 2017. She previously served in two other top roles for Mayor Bill de Blasio, as CEO of the Economic Development Corporation (the first woman to hold the position) and as commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services.
She was tasked with leading de Blasio’s housing plan, which aims to build or preserve 300,000 affordable-housing units by 2026. The city recently announced that it had financed more than 10,000 new affordable-housing units in 2018.
Torres-Springer told the Journal that the affordable housing program would continue under new leadership.
“We’re fortunate that in this agency there is a very, very deep bench of professionals that are so focused to stay on pace with the housing plan,” she said.
It is not yet known who will replace Torres-Springer as commissioner of HPD. [WSJ] — Decca Muldowney