Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has a housing czar.
Mamdani on Friday tapped Adams administration alum Leila Bozorg as his deputy mayor of housing and planning.
Bozorg is Adams’ govt director of housing, a brand new function he created in 2023 that reviews to the deputy mayor of housing, financial improvement and workforce. She additionally served on the mayor’s Constitution Revision Fee, which introduced voters with 4 housing-related ballot measures, together with three that created totally different avenues for challenge approvals.
Gothamist was first to report the appointment.
Mamdani appears to be peeling off the financial improvement and workforce parts of the deputy mayor’s portfolio. Mayor Eric Adams additionally tried to separate housing from financial improvement, however moved the previous’s tasks to a brand new function, chief housing officer. That place was held by Jessica Katz, who left after 16 months on the job. After her departure, Adams added housing again into the deputy mayor’s purview, but in addition created Bozorg’s function.
Mamdani additionally introduced the creation of a brand new place: deputy mayor of financial justice, which might be targeted on employee and shopper protections. The mayor-elect named Julie Su, former U.S. Secretary of Labor underneath President Joe Biden, to this function.
Earlier than becoming a member of the Adams administration, Bozorg sat on the Metropolis Planning Fee and was chief of technique and coverage at nonprofit NYC Youngsters RISE. Previous to that, she served as chief of workers to the HPD commissioners Vicki Been and Louise Carroll between 2014 and 2020. She was additionally a senior coverage advisor on the U.S. Division of Housing and City Growth.
In a press launch asserting the appointments, Bozorg is described as “instrumental” in negotiating the Metropolis of Sure for Housing Alternative textual content modification. Mamdani mentioned in an announcement that Bozorg will perform his administration’s “dedication to construct extra housing, defend tenants.”
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