Federal Official to Head Oregon Housing Agency

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PHOENIX – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development veteran Margaret Salazar will become the new director of Oregon Housing and Community Services Nov. 1.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced the appointment Monday. As head of the OHCS, Salazar will oversee an entity that provides conduit bond issuer services as well as other loans and financial services to create affordable housing in the state. Salazar is currently director of the Portland field office for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she represents the agency to housing providers and government officials throughout Oregon. Claire Seguin had been serving as interim director since May.

"Margaret has extensive leadership and expertise in housing issues, at the local, statewide, and national levels, and I am pleased she will join me in addressing the unprecedented housing challenges Oregonians face," Brown said. "Housing stability is fundamental, and we'll work together to continue increasing housing supply, look for tools that meet local communities' needs, and strengthen tenant protections."

Salazar joined HUD in 2006 where she first financed the development of hundreds of multifamily rental housing units across California, Nevada, and Hawaii. She later served as associate deputy assistant secretary for multifamily housing in HUD Headquarters in Washington, D.C. where she designed and led national programs to preserve and revitalize affordable and public housing.

Salazar began her career as a foundation program officer and housing advocate working with community-based organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, and led a successful grassroots campaign to protect tenants against evictions in Oakland in 2002. She is a native of Hood River and Portland, Ore. She received a master's degree in public policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley and her bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University.

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