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**SOLD OUT** ULI New York's WLI Presents: A Conversation on Innovative and Sustainable Solutions to Combat NYC’s Affordable Housing Crisis
New York City continues to face a decades-long affordable housing crisis. As housing production consistently falls short of demand, housing costs soar and market forces disproportionately burden low- and moderate-income households.
Join us for a discussion with leading experts across housing development, government, and law on the current landscape of housing in NYC and strategies to make meaningful progress on the supply of affordable rental and homeownership opportunities.
Speakers:
MARGY BROWN joined UHAB as Executive Director in January 2023, bringing more than 20 years experience in affordable housing development and finance, homeownership initiatives, Fair Housing, community engagement, and strategic planning. Prior to joining UHAB, she served as Associate Commissioner of Housing Opportunity & Program Services at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development. Margy has devoted her career to furthering economic and racial justice through equitable housing access. She holds a Masters in Urban Policy from New School University’s Milano Graduate School and is a recipient of the Frederick O'Reilly Hayes Prize for innovative, high-impact work in public service.
VICKI BEEN is the Judge Edward Weinfeld Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, an Affiliated Professor of Public Policy of the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and faculty director of NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. Been returned to NYU in January 2022 after serving as deputy mayor for housing and economic development of the City of New York from May 2019 to December 2021. In that role, she led 20 agencies and mayoral offices and a team of more than 30,000 people in financing the new construction and preservation of 200,000 homes on budget and two years earlier than promised; securing the first comprehensive rezonings intended to redress the lack of affordable housing in resource rich, segregated neighborhoods; revamping leadership at the nation’s largest public housing authority; and conceiving and designing a pandemic research institute to lead the world in preparing for future health emergencies. Been also previously served as Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development for the City of New York from 2014-17.
Been has been on the faculty at NYU since 1990 and focuses her scholarship on the intersection of land use, urban policy and housing. Under her leadership, the Furman Center has become the nation’s leading academic research center devoted to the public policy aspects of land use, real estate, and housing development, and was a recipient of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions in 2012.
Karen Haycox serves as CEO of Habitat NYC and Westchester and as President of the Habitat NYC Community Fund, the organization’s certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) dedicated to providing financial services that meet the needs of economically- disadvantaged and underserved communities.
Prior to joining Habitat NYC and Westchester in 2015, Karen held a number of senior positions with the global headquarters of Habitat for Humanity International working closely with a portfolio of multinational partners, serving in a leadership capacity on the organization’s annual Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project and on a cross divisional team working to strengthen Habitat’s role in global disaster response. Karen has also served as Vice President, Fund Development at Southwest Solutions, a Detroit-based organization working at the intersection of mental health, housing, neighborhood revitalization and economic development.
Karen is deeply involved in New York’s LGBTQ+ and housing communities. She serves on the board of Rainbow Railroad, an international organization helping LGBTQ+ individuals around the world to escape state-sponsored violence and find safety and freedom from persecution. She is a past board member of Stonewall Community Development Corporation, an organization dedicated to providing New York’s LGBTQ seniors with supportive, affordable and safe housing options.
Additionally, Karen serves on the boards of the New York City-based Housing Partnership, which assists in the development, promotion, and revitalization of New York City’s affordable homeownership and rental housing; the New York State CDFI Coalition which provides advocacy and resources for New York State Community Development Financial Institutions and the Interboro Community Land Trust, a non-profit organization focused on creating affordable opportunities for homeownership across New York City.
ANDREA KRETCHMER is a developer of affordable housing and mixed-use projects in New York and Connecticut. Andrea is a founding principal at Xenolith Partners LLC, a woman-owned affordable housing development firm. Andrea has more than 18 years of experience in affordable housing development and has developed more than 1000 residential units. Andrea has successfully developed a broad range of projects including new construction of affordable and supportive housing, community facilities, affordable preservation, historic adaptive reuse, and brownfield remediation.
Xenolith is certified by New York City’s Department of Small Business Services as a Woman-owned Business Enterprise (WBE). Xenolith’s New York State MWBE certification application is currently under review. Xenolith is also certified as a WBE in New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Andrea is also a principal at Type A Real Estate Advisers, a WBE developer that was awarded an HPD MWBE RFP sites in 2017. 1490 Southern Boulevard is a 115 unit affordable senior building where JASA operates a 3700 sf ground floor community facility.
Andrea is active in several professional organizations, serving on the Board of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, as a Fellow of the Urban Design Forum, and as members of the Supportive Housing Network of New York and Women in Housing and Finance. Andrea is a leader in the MWBE community, serving on task forces and advisory groups at the Mayor’s Office and at Community Preservation Corporation. Andrea is a graduate of HPD’s Capacity Building Course for emerging MWBE developers.
DINA LEVY is Senior Vice President of Single Family and Community Development responsible for the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA), Office of Community Renewal, and Faith-Based Initiatives. Prior to joining HCR, Dina served as Director of Community Impact and Innovation for Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman where she was senior advisor to the Attorney General on negotiations of multi-billion-dollar bank settlements and oversaw relationships with state and national stakeholders. Prior to that, she was Special Assistant to the Attorney General. Before joining the AG’s Office, Dina worked for the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) where she served as Director of Organizing, building strategic coalitions to preserve, expand and improve the quality of affordable housing across New York City.