Pamela Hughes Patenaude, former Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, joined the National Housing Conference board of governors. She is also the co-chair of NHC’s National Advisory Council.
“Pam’s broad range of leadership experience in housing policy, real estate, and disaster recovery will make a significant contribution to our work,” said Steve O’Connor, chair of the board, in a prepared statement.
NHC is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization founded in 1931, which says its goal is “ensuring safe, decent and affordable housing for all Americans.”
“As Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Pam was a highly respected voice whose collaborative leadership style was recognized by members on both sides of the aisle,” said David M. Dworkin, president and CEO of NHC. “Throughout her distinguished career, Pam has built bipartisan coalitions to achieve sustainable solutions to America’s affordable housing and community development needs.”
Patenaude serves in a variety of roles related to housing, including being on the boards of loanDepot, Habitat for Humanity International, the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
She is also a trustee and vice chairman of the Home Builders Institute (HBI), a social impact advisory board member for the Center Creek Housing Funds and the principal of Granite Housing Strategies. She was recognized as one of HousingWire’s Women of Influence in 2013.
“The National Housing Conference has been instrumental in formulating effective solutions to address the nation’s housing needs for more than nine decades,” said Patenaude in the statement. “I am honored to rejoin the NHC Board of Governors and look forward to making meaningful contributions to the critical housing policy debates.”
As the deputy secretary of HUD under Trump, Patenaude oversaw the agency’s day-to-day operations and disaster relief in Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands, California, North Carolina and South Carolina.
She resigned from the agency citing personal reasons in December 2021. The Washington Post reported she had disagreements with members of the Trump administration over “housing policy and the White House’s attempt to block disaster-recovery money for Puerto Rico.”
