Salem, OR (September 26, 2016)—Governor Kate Brown today appointed Margaret Salazar as Director of Oregon Housing and Community Services.

“Margaret has extensive leadership and expertise in housing issues, at the local, statewide, and national levels, and I am pleased she will join me in addressing the unprecedented housing challenges Oregonians face,” Governor Brown said. “Housing stability is fundamental, and we’ll work together to continue increasing housing supply, look for tools that meet local communities’ needs, and strengthen tenant protections.”

Salazar is Director of the Portland Field Office for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she represents the agency to housing providers and government officials throughout Oregon. She has convened providers, local governments, and housing authorities to share and adopt best practices for ending veteran homelessness in communities across Oregon. She also spurred the creation of the Springfield Manufactured Housing Solutions Collaborative, an Oregon Solutions project that created a toolkit for local agencies to prevent and address the closures of manufactured home parks and assist tenants facing displacement from their homes.

Salazar joined HUD in 2006 where she first financed the development of hundreds of multifamily rental housing units across California, Nevada, and Hawaii. She later served as Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing in HUD Headquarters in Washington, D.C. where she designed and led national programs to preserve and revitalize affordable and public housing.

Salazar began her career as a foundation program officer and housing advocate working with community-based organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, and led a successful grassroots campaign for just cause eviction in Oakland, Calif. in 2002.

Salazar, who grew up in Hood River and Portland, earned her Masters of Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley and her bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University.

Salazar begins at Oregon Housing and Community Services on Nov. 1.