Mayor Bloomberg has tapped a former deputy commissioner for the city’s top housing job, as he announced this morning that Rafael Cestero will be the new commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Mr. Cestero, who left the city for the nonprofit Enterprise in 2007, takes the spot recently left vacant by Shaun Donovan, who became President Obama's HUD secretary.
Formerly the deputy commissioner for development, Mr. Cestero had a large hand in crafting and managing the city’s ambitious affordable housing plan.
Many tools within that plan, however, aimed to leverage a strong market to create tens of thousands of units of below-market rate housing. Now many of the plan's tools and programs have been paralyzed or weakened, leaving Mr. Cestero with a partially completed plan that faces major challenges. read more »
