Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the appointment of Marc Jahr as President of the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC).  Jahr’s appointment was approved by the HDC Board today. Since 2002, Jahr has served as New York Regional Director for Citi Community Capital, where he directed Citibank’s community development real estate lending in New York City, Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.  Prior to his work at Citibank, Jahr was a Vice President at the Local Initiative Support Corporation, a national intermediary that provides funding for housing and community development.  Jahr also worked for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, directing the multi-family housing unit.

HDC is a public benefit corporation established to finance the creation and preservation of affordable housing throughout New York City. HDC is the nation’s number one issuer of affordable housing bonds. Through the Mayor's $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan, HDC has committed to finance 42,000 units of affordable housing over ten years. 31,000 of those units have already been funded.

“Affordable housing is fundamental to New York City's long-term prosperity, and HDC has been at the forefront of our efforts to harness the real estate market to build and preserve affordable housing,” said Mayor Bloomberg.  “Marc brings with him 26 years of affordable housing experience and the leadership to build on HDC’s impressive record. Marc is well qualified to balance fiscal discipline with creativity to fund more affordable housing units. I am confident that he will make a significant contribution to the success of our New Housing Marketplace Plan, the largest municipal affordable housing plan in the nation’s history.”

“This is a very exciting time for HDC,” said HDC President Jahr.  “The Mayor has given his vote of confidence to HDC by assigning it the responsibility of financing many of the initiatives set forth in his ambitious housing plan. I'm looking forward to working with Mayor Bloomberg, the Board and staff of HDC, as well as HPD staff and the banking and real estate communities to continue to bring more affordable housing to the people of New York City.”

“Marc’s commitment to affordable housing and New York City’s neighborhoods and residents is deep and strong,” said Shaun Donovan, HDC Chairman and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “His banking experience will serve HDC well, and I look forward to working with him and the HDC staff to finance thousands more affordable homes through Mayor Bloomberg’s 165,000-unit affordable housing plan.”

HDC was created in 1971 to provide financing for the production of affordable multi-family housing within the five boroughs. Since inception, HDC has issued in excess of $9 billion of bonds and notes to provide construction and/or permanent loans for the acquisition, refinancing, construction and/or rehabilitation of affordable housing. 

Jahr succeeds Emily Youssouf who left HDC in October to start an affordable housing finance division at JPMorgan Chase.  Youssouf, leading a hard-working and innovative staff, implemented several inventive practices to finance the construction and preservation of affordable housing, including earmarking more than $500 million of HDC’s self-generated corporate reserves to augment its bond-funded development lending. HDC’s portfolio has been affirmed by S&P at “AA” and Moody’s at “Aa2”. This is the best rating since HDC’s inception. Youssouf also created new programs aimed at preserving the affordability of senior housing and Mitchell-Lama developments.

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