Mayor of New York City Appoints a Nigerian, Shola Olatoye, to Run the New York City Housing Authority

Shola Olatoye, the daughter of a Nigerian immigrant, has been selected by the Mayor of New York city as the new chair of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

Before her appointment, Ms. Olatoye was a vice president at Enterprise Community Partners, a non-profit group, where she has been a longtime advocate of affordable housing and runs a team that develops affordable housing. 

She had also served as a Vice President at HSBC Bank; a Director of HR&A Advisors, Inc., an advisory and economic development consulting firm; and Director of Community Outreach at the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc.

She described her appointment as an honor, saying, Everything we will do will be focused on improving the quality of life for our tenants, especially protecting their safety. This is an enormous opportunity. Public housing helped people in my family. I want it to do the same in the future for others."

The Mayor said his administration plans to address health and safety issues in the city by building and preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade.