Former housing commissioner to head research organization.

The Citizens Housing and Planning Council of New York (CHPC) appointed Jerilyn Perine as the organization's new executive director. The announcement was made by Marvin Markus, CHPC President.

Perine, an urban planner with more than 25 years of experience, succeeds Frank Braconi, who served as CHPC's executive director since 1994 and recently accepted a position of chief economist for the New York City Comptroller.

Markus said, "Jerilyn Perine is one of the most forward-thinking affordable housing experts in the nation, and we are delighted that she has joined our organization. With the demand for housing increasing and the availability of buildable sites decreasing, Ms. Perine will bring fresh ideas and a proven leadership capability to our organization. We intend to use her talents to the fullest extent."

Immediately prior to joining CHPC, Perine directed her own housing consulting firm, Block by Block, LLC, which focused on structuring affordable housing programs and community development strategies.

Through a grant from the Citigroup Foundation she has been working with the Neighborhood Housing Services of NY, to adapt community development investment in Liverpool and Belfast.

She served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) from 2000 to 2004 under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, leading America's largest municipal housing agency with a combined operating and capital budget of $800 million.

Perine was instrumental in the creation of Mayor Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace plan, which provided $3 billion over five years to preserve and create 65,000 units of affordable housing during her tenure at HPD.

She also established and chaired the Mayor's Neighborhood Investment Panel, which includes housing professionals from New York's banks, philanthropic organizations, research institutions, academia, non-profit and for-profit developers in an unprecedented effort to restructure HPD's programs and to monitor the ongoing effectiveness of the Housing Plan.

Perine grew up in New York City where she received a Bachelors Degree from the City College of New York in Harlem and attended the graduate program in Urban Planning at New York University.