Jamaica Woman To Lead NYC Housing Enforcement Office

JAMAICA, QUEENS -- Management changes to the New York City Housing Authority this week led to a big promotion for one Jamaica woman working for the city's housing preservation agency.

The NYCHA announced Monday that CEO and general manager Michael Kelly would resign, and Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Vito Mustaciuolo, who heads the Enforcement and Neighborhood Services division of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, to take his place.

AnnMarie Santiago, Mustaciuolo's second in command at HPD since 2015, will take his place as the division's acting deputy commissioner, becoming the first Hispanic-American woman to hold the leadership post, according to a statement from the Mayor's office.

DeBlasio said the city was in "good hands" with Santiago running the HPD's enforcement division, which identifies buildings in distress and strategizes with their owners on how to fix them and put them back on firm financial footing. Santiago has worked for the division for 20 years, most recently as assistant deputy commissioner.

"A tireless and talented public servant, she's been a behind-the-scenes driver of some of the City's most creative and efficient tools for getting property owners to live up to their obligations," de Blasio said.

Santiago, who lives in Jamaica with her husband and two kids, developed internal support systems for HPD's inspections program and the Shelter Repair Squad 2.0, which has inspected conditions twice a year in all sites the agency uses to house the city's homeless since 2016, according to the mayor's office.

She's also helped create the HPD's Alternative Enforcement Program and Proactive Preservation Initiative to fully address the problems in distressed buildings. She received the Sloan Public Service Award in 2017.

Santiago was promoted to Associate Commissioner of the HPD's enforcement division in 2012 before eventually earning her title as Assistant Deputy Commissioner in 2015. She said she is "absolutely honored" to fill the shoes of Mustaciuolo - "a longtime mentor" - who will leave HPD immediately for his new position. Mustaciuolo will work alongside Kelly until his resignation next month to ensure "a solid handover of job duties," Patch previously reported.

"As we move forward, my team and I won't miss a beat and we will continue to push the envelope, build on our experience with new enforcement tools and hold landlords accountable to their tenants and the law," Santiago said of the transition.

Lead photo via Google Maps.

Caption: The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development headquarters at 100 Gold St.