Vicki Been to replace Alicia Glenn as Deputy Mayor of housing

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Vicki Been will serve as the new Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development.

Been is a nationally recognized expert on land use, urban policy and affordable housing and is the former Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. As Deputy Mayor, Been will intensify and transform the City’s anti-displacement and affordability strategies and create economic opportunity for all New Yorkers.

“As HPD Commissioner, Vicki changed everything about affordable housing in New York City. As Deputy Mayor, she will dig deeper and ratchet up all our efforts to confront the biggest crisis facing our city: affordability,” said Mayor de Blasio.

“She’ll kick anti-displacement strategies into high gear and open doors of opportunity to people who are struggling. Vicki will be instrumental in the fight to make New York the fairest big city in America.”

Been commented, “Since my tenure as HPD Commissioner, the City has made great strides building more affordable housing units and benefited from record low unemployment. It’s time to be bolder and find new, innovative ways to respond to the City’s affordability crisis.”

As HPD Commissioner from 2014 to 2017, Been helped craft Housing New York, the Mayor’s plan to tackle the affordability crisis and create and preserve 200,000 affordable homes by 2024.

Been oversaw the financing of a record 62,500 affordable homes – enough for 170,000 New Yorkers — and reformed the regulatory process to reduce the risk and cost of building and preserving affordable housing while ensuring its safety, quality, and financial stability.

Been was also instrumental in advancing the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law that that requires developers to dedicate a certain percentage of rental units at below market rate rents in areas that are rezoned for higher density.

There are nearly 5,600 additional MIH homes in the affordable housing pipeline.

Been is currently the Director of NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, the Boxer Family Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, and an Affiliated Professor of Public Policy of the NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

The Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development oversees and coordinates the operations of over 20 agencies, offices and affiliated entities, including the Economic Development Corporation, City Planning, the Board of Standards and Appeals, and the Rent Guidelines Board.

Been graduated from Colorado State University and received her J.D. from New York University School of Law.

She has served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and an Associate Professor of Law at Rutgers.

Her first day as Deputy Mayor will be May 6