The Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, has
appointed a Nigerian to head the city’s Housing Authority in his bid to
overhaul the previous administration’s housing policy. Shola Olatoye would serve as the new chair of the New York City Housing Authority, NYCHA. Mr. de
Blasio said his administration is working towards building and
preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade to
address longstanding health and safety issues in the city. Read more and watch video after cut...
“We are going to take a new approach to this crisis that holds nothing back,” said the mayor. “From
doing more to protect tenants in troubled buildings, to innovating new
partnerships with the private sector, to forging a new relationship with
our NYCHA communities, every decision we make will focus on maximizing
the affordability of our neighbourhoods. “These
agencies are going to work together as a collective to lift up families
and make this one city—where everyone rises together,” Mr. de Blasio
added.
The
daughter of a Nigerian immigrant and working class mom, Mrs. Olatoye is
expected to focus on strategic goals like expanding employment
opportunities for NYCHA residents, developing plans to retrofit
buildings, and supporting tenants – including the 40 percent of
residents over the age of 62. Mrs. Olatoye described the decision to let her run the NYCHA as an “honour.”
“Everything
we will do will be focused on improving the quality of life for our
tenants, especially protecting their safety,” Mrs. Olatoye, who is
married with two sons, said. “This is
an enormous opportunity. Public housing helped people in my family. I
want it to do the same in the future for others,” she added.
Before her
appointment, Mrs. Olatoye was Vice President and New York Market Leader
for Enterprise Community Partners, a national non-profit that has
helped build or preserve more than 44,000 affordable homes for
lower-income New Yorkers and invested more than $2.5 billion in and
around the city.
In this 2012 video below, Shola Olatoye shares her
story of why she chose NYU Wagner and how her graduate education has
prepared her for success in a wide variety of roles.
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