Affordable Housing Leadership Team Announced In New York City

NEW YORK, NEW YORK— The city of New York is undergoing a renaissance. Mayor Eric Adams of New York City unveiled the members of the team that will be in charge of the city’s affordable housing strategy. Jessica Katz, the city’s now top housing officer, will serve as the team’s leader. In his new position as Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Adolfo Carrión Jr. will oversee the whole department (HPD). Eric Enderlin will continue to serve as the president of the Housing Development Corporation in his current position (HDC).

During the announcement, the mayor reaffirmed his support for a number of initiatives that will assist the city in building housing while also lowering expenses, including:

• Legalizing basement apartment dwellings
• Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
• Other small units
• Converting underutilized hotels and office buildings into affordable housing
• Upzoning areas with robust infrastructure and around major transit hubs
• Creating new housing supply throughout the five boroughs.

 

 

“I said from day one of my campaign that we are going to end the housing affordability crisis, and this is the team of extraordinary leaders who will do just that,” said Mayor Adams in his press release. “This team has a clear mission: To create, preserve, and maintain safe, affordable housing that will build a more equitable city. I know they will ‘Get Stuff Done’ for New York and deliver the housing New Yorkers deserve.”

The following is the complete list of Mayor Adams’ appointees:

Jessica Katz, Chief Housing Officer

Jessica Katz will lead the city’s housing agencies and affordable housing plan as chief housing officer. HPD, HDC, NYCHA, the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations (HRO), and the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants will all be part of her portfolio (MOPT). Katz was most recently the executive director of the Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC), an 80-year-old New York City-based research and advocacy group concentrating on housing and planning issues.
She oversaw a policy and research agenda at CHPC that included basement apartment conversions, a New Lens for NYC’s Housing Plan, Resident Decision-Making at NYCHA, Equitable Code Enforcement, and a variety of other projects.

Prior to joining CHPC, Katz worked for the Houston Police Department, where she most recently served as the associate commissioner for New Construction. She was in charge of developing affordable and special-needs housing in that capacity.
She has served as an assistant commissioner for Special Needs Housing, a senior advisor to the commissioner, and an assistant commissioner for Preservation Finance at HPD.

Katz joined the HPD in 2003 as a production manager for Special Needs Housing, where she gained extensive experience in the construction of housing for seniors and homeless New Yorkers. She left HPD in 2009 to become the executive director of Lantern Group, a non-profit that runs social service programs and 1,000 units of permanent supportive housing in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

Katz graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Geography and went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her Master’s in City Planning.

Adolfo Carrión Jr., Commissioner, Department of Housing Preservation and Development

Adolfo Carrión Jr. is the founder and CEO of Metro Futures LLC, a real estate development and consulting firm specializing in affordable housing, mixed-use and economic development projects, and strategic planning in the New York City metro area.

Carrión has spent his professional career in the Bronx, other parts of New York City, and around the country trying to create and enhance historically neglected communities. Carrión worked as a regional administrator for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Region II, a deputy assistant to President Barack Obama, and the director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs before founding Metro Futures.

Carrión’s efforts led in the formation of a White House Urban Policy Working Group and the first interagency review of federal policy and funding in the United States’ urban and metropolitan areas in 30 years. Carrión served as Bronx Borough President and a member of the New York City Council before joining the federal administration. His tenure as Borough President saw increasing investment in housing, schools, millions of square feet of commercial space, the new Yankee Stadium, and new enterprises, ushering in a new era of development and expansion in the Bronx.

Carrión has also served on various non-profit and government boards, including as president of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO). He is also an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellows alumna. He was also the executive vice president of the Stagg Group, a housing development and management organization, and the CSA Group’s senior advisor for corporate growth, the largest Hispanic-owned architecture and engineering firm in the United States.

Carrión graduated from King’s College with a Bachelor of Arts and Hunter College with a Master of Urban Planning.

Eric Enderlin, President, Housing Development Corporation

Since October 2016, Eric Enderlin has been the president of HDC. Enderlin’s job include overseeing the nation’s largest municipal Homes Finance Agency, which aims to make the city a fairer and more equitable place to live by promoting the production and preservation of affordable housing. He has also recently led HDC in expanding its goal to include serving as a significant finance partner in efforts to rebuild New York City’s public housing stock while ensuring affordability and resident safety.

Enderlin comes to HDC with more than two decades of experience in public policy and affordable housing. He was most recently a deputy commissioner for Development and a special advisor at the Houston Police Department. Prior to joining HPD, he worked at NYCHA as an assistant director for Asset Management and Private Market Operations, for the Louis Berger Group’s Economics Department, and for the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing as a principal planner and land use mediator (NJ COAH).

Enderlin graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Master of Science in urban planning and policy.