Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the resignation of Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Jerilyn Perine, who also serves as Chair of the Housing Development Corporation board.  Commissioner Perine, who plans to depart when a successor is named, will leave to spend more time with her family.  She plans to remain active in the field of housing and community development here in New York City and abroad.  Commissioner Perine was named HPD Commissioner on September 19, 2000 by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and was reappointed on December 28, 2001 by Mayor Bloomberg.  Mayor Bloomberg has asked Nat Leventhal, Chair of the Appointments Committee, to conduct a search for a replacement.

"Jerilyn Perine has been a deeply committed public servant for more than 26 years in New York City," said Mayor Bloomberg.  "Jerilyn has done an incredible job of bringing the housing community together to make great things happen in our City.  She is largely credited with the reduction of in rem housing inventory from 39,112 units in FY'95 to 3,868 units today, a 90% decrease over the last eight years, and more recently she has been at the helm of our efforts to build or preserve 65,000 units of housing over the next five years. While we will truly miss Jerilyn's presence, we wish her well in all her future endeavors."

"It's been a privilege to work in city government over the last 26 years," said Commissioner Perine. "I've seen our communities come back from the devastating housing losses of the 1970's and 1980's to where they have safe streets, vibrant shops, children playing outside, and safe and decent housing.  It is an honor to have played a role in this work and in creating a housing plan which will help solve the City's housing problems for future generations."

Commissioner Perine was born and raised in Flatbush and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and served in various positions over her 26 years of public service to New York City.  She has held positions in the areas of economic development, urban planning, and housing development, and started at HPD in 1986.  Commissioner Perine has created and implemented programs that rehabilitated and privatized City-owned residential properties and applied early intervention and rehabilitation strategies for privately owned distressed property.  These programs have received Innovations in American Government awards from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and the Pioneer Institute in Massachusetts.  She is the author of the Bloomberg Administration's $3 billion housing initiative, Housing in the New Marketplace: Creating Housing for the Next Generation, to build or preserve 65,000 units of housing over five years and was responsible for implementing the plan.