The California Housing Finance Agency announced Friday former executive director Tia Boatman Patterson will join the White House Office of Management and Budget as the associate director for housing, treasury and commerce in the new administration.
Boatman Patterson began serving on the CalHFA’s board of directors in 2012 and was appointed as Executive Director just two years later by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. According to a statement from CalHFA, Boatman Patterson would go on to lead CalHFA through its most successful period in its 46-year history following her appointment.
During her tenure, Boatman Patterson oversaw the expansion of CalHFA from less than $100 million in lending the year before she took over, to nearly $5 billion last fiscal year.
She also established CalHFA’s downpayment assistance program which offers a deferred-payment junior loan to first-time homebuyers, and the mixed-income program that provides construction financing on multifamily housing projects for a range of incomes.
Other efforts included a special needs housing program that allowed counties to continue financing housing for individuals with serious mental illness experiencing homelessness after the state’s Mental Health Services Act housing program ended in 2016.
At CalHFA, Boatman Patterson also worked with Apple to establish a California Bond Recycling program that saw Apple supplying a credit facility alongside a $2.5 billion commitment to combat California’s housing crisis.
The former director was reappointed last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom, for whom she also served for a year as a senior housing advisor.
“Tia’s tenacity, her leadership ability to build successful collaborative relationships and innovative ideas have turned CalHFA into a model for all other housing finance agencies in the country,” said Michael Gunning, acting chairperson of the CalHFA board of directors.
Boatman Patterson’s appointment arrives on the heels of a bold campaign platform Biden took in addressing America’s housing crisis.
The President’s Feb. 2020 housing plan detailed opportunities for every American to have access to housing that is affordable, stable, safe and healthy, accessible, energy efficient and resilient and located “near good schools” with a “reasonable commute to their jobs.”
To do so, Biden’s plan would invest $640 billion over 10 years, with a $100 billion Affordable Housing Fund to construct and upgrade affordable housing. Still, a collection of affordable housing groups have expressed some wariness over the American Rescue Plan’s affect on affordable housing.
Under the new administration, Biden has also brought back key CFPB players, appointed Marcia Fudge as HUD secretary and Jenn Jones as its new chief of staff (and then called the organization out to address racial equality), announced plans to release aid to Puerto Rico and extended the foreclosure moratorium.
There’s also that $15,000 tax credit proposal the industry is still keeping its eye on.
“Our loss is the country’s gain, and I’m sure the Office of Management and Budget will benefit greatly from her deep passion and deep knowledge of housing,” said Lourdes Castro Ramírez, secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, which oversees CalHFA.
Newsom has named CalHFA’s Don Cavier as acting executive director until a permanent replacement is appointed. Cavier has served as the organization’s chief deputy director under Boatman Patterson since 2015.
