New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced the team who will lead his administration’s affordable housing strategy. Jessica Katz will lead the team as the city’s chief housing officer. Adolfo Carrión Jr. will serve as commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Eric Enderlin will continue serving as the president of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
During the announcement, the mayor reiterated his support for several measures that will help the city build housing and reduce costs, including:
- Upzoning areas with robust infrastructure and around major transit hubs, as well as creating new housing supply around the five boroughs;
- Legalizing basement apartment dwellings, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), and other small units; and
- Converting underused hotels and office buildings into affordable housing.
“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. “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 city’s affordable housing crisis demands a dedicated leader and an effective team,” said First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo. “This group of leaders is empowered to drive the city’s efforts to create and maintain safe, affordable housing throughout the five boroughs for all.”
“As a lifelong advocate for safe, affordable housing, I’m grateful to Mayor Adams and incredibly honored to be leading his housing agenda,” said Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz. “From expanding our housing supply across the city to ensuring families have easier access to stable homes and finally fixing NYCHA with resident voices at the center of the conversation, there’s a lot to do. It is our responsibility to ensure all New Yorkers have an affordable place to live, and I’m ready to get to work, fighting to achieve this for every one of our neighbors.”
“Thank you, Mayor Adams, for the opportunity to return to public service and work with you, the great team you have assembled, and the dedicated public servants at HPD, so we can build a city that works for everyone. There is no greater responsibility we share than to build nurturing communities that provide families an affordable and safe place to live and an opportunity to move up the economic ladder,” said incoming HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. “My parents came from Puerto Rico in the 1950s and moved into a tenement basement apartment in Williamsburg, then into NYCHA’s Jacob Riis Houses and HUD-assisted Haven Plaza on the Lower East Side, and then, with the help of an FHA mortgage, to our first home in the North Bronx. This was all possible because our city and country invested in us. Now we must do the same for this generation. We’re going to work hard to create neighborhoods of opportunity, where families have a chance to get ahead.”
“I want to thank Mayor Adams for appointing me to lead the incredible team at HDC,” said HDC President Eric Enderlin. “We look forward to bringing our deep experience in innovative finance to help create more housing and preserve our city’s existing affordable and public housing stock. Safe, high-quality, affordable housing is crucial to the success of our city, and I am extremely proud to be a part of this team that will work tirelessly toward the goal of ensuring every New Yorker has a stable place to call home.”
Mayor Adams’ full list of appointees is below:
Jessica Katz, Chief Housing Officer
Jessica Katz will serve as chief housing officer, overseeing the city’s housing agencies and affordable housing strategy. Her portfolio will include HPD, HDC, NYCHA, the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations (HRO), and the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants (MOPT). She will report to First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo.
Katz was most recently the executive director of the Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC), an 80-year-old research and advocacy organization focused on housing and planning issues in New York City. At CHPC, she led a policy and research agenda that included projects, such as basements apartment conversions, a New Lens for NYC’s Housing Plan, Resident Decision-Making at NYCHA, Equitable Code Enforcement, and many other initiatives.
Before CHPC, Katz was with HPD, where she most recently served as the associate commissioner for New Construction. In that role, she oversaw the creation of affordable and special needs housing. She has held a variety of roles at HPD, including as assistant commissioner of Special Needs Housing, senior advisor to the commissioner, and assistant commissioner for Preservation Finance. Katz began her career with HPD in 2003 and started as the production manager for Special Needs Housing, gaining in-depth experience in the creation of housing for seniors and New Yorkers experiencing homelessness. She left HPD in 2009 to become the executive director of Lantern Group, a not-for-profit that operates social service programs across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, as well as 1,000 units of permanent supportive housing.
Katz received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Geography from McGill University and went on to receive a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Adolfo Carrión Jr., Commissioner, Department of Housing Preservation and Development
Adolfo Carrión Jr. is the CEO and founder of Metro Futures LLC, a real estate development and consulting firm, whose focus is the development of affordable housing, mixed-use and economic development projects, and strategic planning in the New York City Metro Area.
Carrión has spent his professional career working to build and improve historically marginalized communities in the Bronx, in other areas of New York City, and around the country. Before starting Metro Futures, Carrión served as regional administrator for Region II of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, deputy assistant to President Barack Obama, and director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs. Carrión’s work resulted in the establishment of a White House Urban Policy Working Group and the first interagency review in 30 years of federal government policy and funding in U.S. urban and metropolitan areas. Prior to his tenure in the federal government, Carrión served as Bronx Borough President and as a member of the New York City Council. His work as Borough President ushered in a new era of building and growth in the Bronx that increased investment in housing, schools, millions of square feet of commercial space, the new Yankee Stadium, and new businesses. Carrión also served as president of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), is an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellows alumnus, and has served on numerous boards for non-profit and government entities. He also served as executive vice president of Stagg Group, a housing development and management firm, and senior advisor for Corporate Development to the CSA Group, the largest Hispanic-owned architecture and engineering firm in the U.S.
Carrión received his Bachelor of Arts from the King’s College and a Master’s in Urban Planning from Hunter College.
Eric Enderlin, President, Housing Development Corporation
Eric Enderlin has served as president of HDC since October 2016. In this role, Enderlin is tasked with leading the nation’s largest municipal Housing Finance Agency to help ensure a fairer and more equitable city through the creation and preservation of affordable housing. He also recently led HDC through an expansion of its mission to now serve as the key financing partner in efforts to rehabilitate New York City’s public housing stock, while guaranteeing affordability and resident protections.
Enderlin brings more than 20 years of experience in public policy and affordable housing to HDC. He most recently served as deputy commissioner for Development and special advisor at HPD. Prior to joining HPD, he was assistant director for Asset Management and Private Market Operations at NYCHA, worked as a consultant with the Louis Berger Group in its Economics Department, and served as principal planner and land use mediator with the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (NJ COAH).
Enderlin holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Master of Science in urban planning and policy, both from Rutgers University.
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