Been Returns to de Blasio Administration as Deputy Mayor

NEW YORK CITY—Mayor Bill de Blasio turned to former Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Vicki Been to fill the post of Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development.

Been, who is currently the director of NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, will take on the Deputy Mayor’s post beginning on May 6. She replaces Alicia Glen, who left the administration after serving five years as Deputy Mayor in March.

“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.

The mayor adds, “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.”

At present, Been also serves as director of the Boxer Family Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, and is an Affiliated Professor of Public Policy of the NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

As HPD Commissioner from 2014 to 2017, Been helped craft “Housing New York,” the mayor’s plan to create and preserve 200,000 affordable homes by 2024. After HPD made quick progress, the plan was updated in 2017, setting a new goal of 300,000 affordable homes by 2026. During her tenure, she oversaw the financing of a record 62,500 affordable homes and restructured programs to reach a wider range of incomes and secured more affordable housing for every public dollar spent. She also reformed the regulatory process to reduce the risk and cost of building and preserving affordable housing.

Been was 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 now nearly 5,600 additional MIH homes in the affordable housing pipeline.

“I want to thank Mayor de Blasio for this exciting opportunity to make New York more affordable for 8.6 million New Yorkers,” Been says. “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.”

The Deputy Mayor oversees and coordinates the operations of more than 20 city agencies, offices and affiliated entities, including:  the Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Housing Development Corporation, the New York City Housing Authority, the Department of City Planning, the Public Design Commission, the Board of Standards and Appeals, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Libraries, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Office of Media & Entertainment, the Office of Housing Recovery Operations, NYC & Company, Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, the Trust for Governors Island, the Hudson River Park Trust 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, The State University of New Jersey. She clerked for Judge Edward Weinfeld of the Southern District of New York and US Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun.