New York Gov. David Paterson last week appointed Brian Lawlor to head the state's housing agency and its housing bond agencies.
Lawlor, 55, has served as commissioner of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal in an acting capacity since January. He will also serve as chief executive officer and president of the New York State Housing Finance Agency and the State of New York Mortgage Agency.
In January, Paterson announced his intention to consolidate the management structure of the agencies to save $3.5 million annually. The agencies have worked closely together in the past with DHCR, implementing the state's federal low-income housing tax-credit program that is used on many affordable housing deals financed with HFA bonds.
Lawlor replaces former DHCR commissioner Deborah VanAmerongen, who joined Nixon Peabody LLP as a strategic policy adviser in February. He also takes over for SONYMA and HFA chief Priscilla Almodovar, who joined JPMorgan's community development banking business as chief operating officer in January.
Lawlor has spent most of his professional life at DHCR, coming on staff in 1987 three years after graduating from law school. He worked as assistant housing secretary to the governor from 1992 to 1994, was counsel to the state housing director in 1994 and then returned to DHCR. From 2007 until this year he was executive deputy commissioner and oversaw the administration of more than $700 million of federal stimulus funds.
Lawlor earned his undergraduate degree from Hofstra University and law degree from New York Law School.
Under the rubric "nyhomes," SONYMA and HFA have jointly sold $12.14 billion of new-money bonds since 2000, including $928.9 million last year, according to Thomson Reuters. The HFA is one of five public agencies that sell personal income tax bonds for the state.
