Maria Torres-Springer has worked in the de Blasio administration for five years, including the last two as commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development

NEW YORK CITY—The de Blasio administration announced on Friday that Housing Preservation and Development commissioner Maria Torres-Springer will be stepping down in early March to join the private sector.

Torres-Springer will leave the de Blasio administration to join the Ford Foundation as vice president of US programs. She took over two years ago replacing Vicki Benn as head of the HPD. Her appointment came as part of a shakeup by the mayor. Torres-Springer previously was the head of the city's Economic Development Corp. She was replaced in that post by James Patchett, an advisor to the mayor on housing issues and chief of staff for deputy mayor Alicia Glen.

“No one has been more important in our fight to make New York the fairest big city in America than Maria Torres-Springer,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio “Whether advancing re-zonings or developing a record number of affordable homes, I have turned to her time and again to tackle the toughest issues facing our city. The Ford Foundation—and the country—are lucky to have her where she's going.”

At HPD, Torres-Springer oversaw the design and implementation of Housing New York 2.0, which accelerated and expanded the mayor's housing plan to create 300,000 homes by 2026. Under her leadership, the city financed approximately 60,000 affordable homes, more than any two-year period in HPD's history, bringing the city's affordable housing production to date to 122,000 homes, city officials stated.

Among the policy changes under Torres-Springer's watch included support for the development of comprehensive plans for investments in Inwood, Downtown Far Rockaway in Queens, Jerome Avenue in the Bronx and other city neighborhoods. She also advanced initiatives to promote innovations in design and construction and launched several new tenants' rights protection programs.

Torres-Springer said in announcing her departure from city service, “I want to thank Mayor Bill de Blasio and Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen for entrusting me over the last five years with leading the work of three agencies devoted to balancing the equation in favor of New York City's hard-working families. Together, we have created and preserved affordable housing at record speed while ensuring the city's most vulnerable communities are protected and implemented major initiatives to spur economic opportunity across the five boroughs.  I am especially grateful to my exceptional colleagues at HPD, HDC, EDC, and SBS and will always be in awe of their talent, fortitude and abiding commitment to our city.”

Prior to joining HPD, Torres-Springer served as the first female president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corp., where she led the implementation of the city-wide erry, the launch of LifeSci NYC and the expansion of EDC's minority- and women-owned business enterprises programs. She also advanced projects including the re-imagining of Spofford, a former juvenile detention center in the Bronx, as a hub for the arts and affordable housing.

Torres-Springer joined this administration as commissioner of Small Business Services in 2014, and spearheaded efforts to raise wages and expand skill-building in workforce placement programs, streamline the regulatory environment for small businesses and launched initiatives such as the Tech Talent Pipeline.