Sarah Sheon Gerecke

Sarah Gerecke is Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Housing Counseling at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, a program whose mission is to ensure that families have the knowledge they need to obtain, sustain and retain their homes through HUD''s network of 2,400 approved housing counseling agencies.  She has also contributed to policy relating to the FHA mortgage insurance program, the National Mortgage Servicing Settlement, and HUD''s response to Hurricane Sandy.  Until 2011, she was Executive Director of the Furman Center. Sarah is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Planning at the NYU Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service where she teaches a seminar in land use, housing and community development in New York City to Wagner and Law students. Until July 2009, she was Chief Executive Officer of Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of NYC, where she supervised lending, education, community development and real estate programs that resulted in $185 million invested in underserved communities in 2008, assisting over 11,000 residents. She joined NHS as Chief Operating Officer in 2001. From 1994-2001, Sarah was Vice President for Housing Programs at Westhab, Inc., Westchester''s largest provider of housing for homeless and disadvantaged residents, where she supervised supportive housing and transitional residential programs.

Sarah served in various positions in New York City government between 1986 and 1994, including Assistant Commissioner for Production and Planning for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and Assistant to Deputy Mayor Robert Esnard. From 1984 - 1986, she practiced real estate law for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School (magna cum laude) and Princeton University''s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (cum laude). Ms. Gerecke was a New York City Urban Fellow and has received numerous awards including HPD Outstanding Alumna. She lives in the Bronx.

Areas of Expertise

Cities

City Management

Evaluation

Evidence-Based Management

Finance

Governance

Housing & Community Development

Inequality

Infrastructure

Law & Regulation

Leadership

Management

Policy Analysis

Politics

Poverty

Public & Nonprofit Organizations

Race, Class, Gender & Diversity

Social Innovation

Social Policy

Urban Planning

Urban Policy

Vulnerable Populations