Real estate and public-housing experts lament the exit of Pam Patenaude, who many say was responsible for the agency’s smooth operation
In a surprise for the housing industry, the HUD official many considered vital to the agency’s smooth operation has resigned.
Deputy Secretary Pam Patenaude, who ran operations at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, announced her resignation in a tweeted statement Monday.
“This morning I informed Secretary (Ben) Carson of my decision to leave HUD in the new year,” Patenaude tweeted. “Serving at HUD as Deputy Secretary has been the highlight of my 35-year career in housing.”
Patenaude will transition out of the job in January, according to an AOL report. Current and former HUD officials and low-income housing advocates reacted to her resignation with alarm, saying that Patenaude was vital to the functioning of the agency. Some said that she, not Carson, really ran the agency – although a HUD spokesperson strongly denied that characterization, according to AOL.
A senior HUD official told AIL that Brian Montgomery, commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration, will step in as acting deputy secretary after Patenaude’s exit.
The real estate and public-housing sectors lamented Patenaude’s resignation. Adrienne Todman, CEO of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, told AOL that the resignation was a “tremendous loss to the agency.” Diane Yentel, head of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said that Patenaude’s skills “offset Secretary Carson’s weaknesses on housing.”
Former HUD official Gustavo Velasquez called Patenaude “one of the few (political appointees) in the administration with some level of sanity,” according to AOL.
