More Officials Tapped for HUD

AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE • June 2009

BY AHF Staff

Sandra Henriquez, who has led the Boston Housing Authority for the past decade, and Mercedes Marquez, general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department, are in line for key federal housing positions.

They are the latest additions to the new leadership team being assembled at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Henriquez has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be assistant secretary for public and Indian housing. She is well familiar with public housing programs, having served as the administrator and CEO of the Boston authority since 1996. She is also a director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities.

Marquez is nominated to be the HUD assistant secretary for community planning and development.

She has served as general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department since January 2004. Prior to that, Marquez was a vice president at McCormack Baron Salazar, Inc., a national developer specializing in urban communities.

Her resume also includes a stint at HUD during the Clinton administration when she was senior counsel to the secretary and deputy general counsel for civil rights and fair housing.

Marquez was a principal adviser to former HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo on civil rights policy, including fair lending and fair housing enforcement, and led investigations and negotiations of housing discrimination cases.

In May, several other nominees were sworn in, including Ron Sims, who became deputy secretary of HUD after being unanimously confi rmed by the Senate. He is the second most senior offi cial in the department after Secretary Shaun Donovan. Sims recently served as county executive of King County, Wash.

Helen Kanovsky, Peter Kovar, and John Trasvina were also sworn in as the general counsel, the assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs, and the assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity, respectively.