Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Louise Carroll will serve as the next Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. As Commissioner, she will intensify preservation efforts to address displacement before it occurs. Carroll will also work closely with the new Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants to create strategies to hold bad landlords accountable and ensure we are using every available resource to keep New Yorkers in their homes.
“Affordable Housing is about more than just numbers for Louise – she knows that with every affordable home created and preserved, it means more New Yorkers can stabilize their lives and thrive in their neighborhoods. She will fight aggressively to protect tenants and prevent displacement,” said Mayor de Blasio.
“I’m going fight to ensure New Yorkers can afford to live and thrive in this City. Fighting means cutting through the red-tape, rejecting business as usual, and enacting policies that focus on the everyday lives of tenants,” said Commissioner Carroll. “I want to thank Mayor de Blasio, and Deputy Mayor Been for the opportunity to build on the agency’s existing initiatives and join’s the administration’s historic efforts to ensure that New York is fairer and more affordable for generations to come.”
“Louise is a brilliant lawyer and manager who is known for being tough and fair,” said Incoming Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Vicki Been. “It’s her empathy, integrity, and tenacity as a litigator that will make her an excellent HPD Commissioner. Tenants now have a skilled negotiator and manager working on rent regulation reform and committed to protecting their homes.”
Carroll is currently the General Counsel of the Housing Development Corporation. She formerly served at HPD from 2006 to 2018, most recently as Associate Commissioner for Housing Incentives. During her tenure at the agency, Carroll revamped the City’s tax incentives programs to increase the amount of affordability they generated, producing record numbers of affordable housing. Carroll also led the creation of a compliance and enforcement unit to protect tenants’ rights and make sure landlords were following through on their promises to the City. She was also instrumental to both the design and implementation of mandatory, permanent affordable housing requirements.
Before her tenure at HPD, Louise served as an Associate Counsel at the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board and as a transactions attorney for the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. Prior to beginning her career in public service, Louise worked as a Chief Financial Officer of an international ship-owning and brokerage company.
Carroll was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands and raised in St. Lucia. Carroll holds a J.D. from Tulane Law School, an M.B.A. from the University of Leicester, England, and a B.Sc. from the University of Wales at Aberystwyth. Carroll is a recipient of the prestigious Ibo Balton Community Planner Award from the Citizens Housing Planning Commission. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and their seven-year-old son.
Acting HPD Commissioner Eric Enderlin will return to his position as President of the Housing Development Corporation.
