Monday, June 15, 2009
On April 10, 2009, President Obama named Sandra Henriquez as the new Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing (PIH), a position within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and she was confirmed on May 21. PIH manages programs that provide funding to help residents obtain affordable housing and become more self-sufficient and financially independent. Henriquez served as Administrator and CEO of the Boston Housing Authority for thirteen years before being tapped by Obama.
Born in 1950, Sandra Brooks Henriquez was raised in the village of Spencerport, New York, near Rochester. Her parents both worked for Eastman Kodak. Her father began as a machinist and retired 42 years later as an employee recruiter. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in psychology from Boston University in 1972. During the Vietnam War, Henriquez was active in the anti-war movement and she has described herself as, “a child of the ‘60s,” adding, “I really believe in public service.”
Henriquez has spent her entire career in the public housing field, starting at the Boston Housing Authority, where she worked in various capacities from 1977 to 1983. She served as the Director of Housing Management and Tenant Services for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development from 1983 to 1986. She then left government for the private sector, working as a principal of Maloney Properties, Inc., a real estate property management firm specializing in delivering services to resident-controlled and non-profit sponsored housing. Henriquez returned to the Boston Housing Authority in April 1996, when she was named Administrator and Chief Executive Officer, a position she held until her recent appointment to HUD. Her position in Boston was a cabinet position within the administration of Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
Henriquez has been president of the Council of Large Public Housing Agencies (CLPHA) since 2004.
She was also Chair of the Board of Directors of the YWCA Boston, and a director of the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation. As a trustee for nine years, and now an honorary trustee of the New England Baptist Hospital, she sits on the Buildings and Grounds Committee and participates on the Compensation Committee. In addition, she is a director of the Massachusetts-based Citizens Housing and Planning Association.
Henriquez”s husband, Julio, is a community activist who was born in Panama. The couple has three children, two sons and a daughter.
- Matt Bewig
Obama Taps Boston Housing Chief (by Donovan Slack, Boston Globe)
How the Squeeze on Public Housing Hurts Us All (by Sandra B. Henriquez, Boston Globe)
Office of Public and Indian Housing (AllGov)
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