Zohran Mamdani Taps Dina Levy for HPD Commissioner

Zohran Mamdani continues filling out his administration as the early days of his mayorship unfold.

Dina Levy, the senior vice president of single family and community development with the state’s Division of Homes and Community Renewal, will serve as commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Gothamist reported. Mamdani’s spokesperson later confirmed the appointment.

Levy “is an experienced and fearless housing leader, and I know that she will fight to protect tenants and tackle our housing crisis head on,” the mayor said in a statement.

Before her most recent role at HCR, she wore a number of other hats at the agency. Among her jobs, Levy oversaw the state’s mortgage agency, managed housing grants and led a program upstate for the manufacturing of low-cost homes.

Previously, she held roles with the attorney general’s office and with the nonprofit Urban Homesteading Assistance Board.

In stepping into the HPD’s top post, Levy will assume charge of an agency with a $2 billion budget that could help steer some of Mamdani’s biggest campaign promises. HPD finances income-restricted housing developments and funds the preservation of existing affordable units.

Last year, the agency financed the development of more than 13,000 affordable units and the preservation of another 15,000 units, according to the city. Mamdani is targeting the construction of 200,000 affordable units in the next decade.

At Mamdani and Levy’s disposal is the package of land-use changes ushered in by Eric Adams’ City of Yes passage, which could permit larger construction and square-footage bonuses tied to affordable unit volume.

Levy will be filling the job vacated by Ahmed Tigani, who served as the acting commissioner of HPD before Mamdani nominated him as the commissioner of the Department of Buildings.

Tigani took over at HPD in March after Adams tapped the previous commissioner, Adolfo Carrión, to step in as the deputy mayor of housing, economic development and workforce after Maria Torres-Springer resigned during the fallout from the Department of Justice’s corruption charges against Adams.

— Holden Walter-Warner