De Blasio Taps Ex-Housing Chief As New Deputy Mayor

NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio's first housing commissioner is returning to City Hall in a more senior role. Vicki Been, who served as commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development from 2014 to 2017, will be the new deputy mayor for housing and economic development, de Blasio announced Thursday.

Been will replace Alicia Glen, who helped implement the mayor's housing agenda and also helped land the infamous, now-dead deal to bring Amazon to Long Island City.

The mayor said Been will "dig deeper" in her new post to confront the city's affordability crisis, which has persisted despite the de Blasio administration's efforts to build and preserve 300,000 affordable homes by 2026.

"She’ll kick anti-displacement strategies into high gear and open doors of opportunity to people who are struggling," de Blasio said in a statement. "Vicki will be instrumental in the fight to make New York the fairest big city in America."

As HPD commissioner, City Hall says Been helped build de Blasio's original affordable housing plan and helped push the administration's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing policy, which requires developers to include a certain share of affordable apartments in buildings within rezoned areas.

The city's neighborhood rezonings have proven highly controversial, with opponents saying they speed up gentrification.

Been will rejoin the administration after a stint at New York University, where she has served as director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. As deputy mayor, she will oversee a wide-ranging portfolio of more than 20 agencies, including HPD, the Economic Development Corporation and the troubled New York City Housing Authority.

"Since my tenure as HPD Commissioner, the City has made great strides building more affordable housing units and benefited from record low unemployment," Been said in a statement. "It's time to be bolder and find new, innovative ways to respond to the City's affordability crisis."