Obama announces pick for PIH assistant secretary

In a White House news release last week, President Barack Obama announced that he had chosen Lourdes M. Castro Ramírez to be the new head of HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH). The news release provides the following information about Ramírez:

Lourdes M. Castro Ramírez is president and CEO of the San Antonio Housing Authority, a position she has held since 2009. From 2006 to 2009, she served as director of the Section 8 department for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA). Ms. Castro Ramírez was assistant and then interim director of the resident relations department of HACLA from 2004 to 2006, and project director for the Jobs-Plus National Demonstration Program at HACLA from 1999 to 2004. Previously, she was a community development planner for Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation from 1996 to 1999. She serves as a board member for the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, and Centro San Antonio, and is a co-founder of Women in Housing Leadership.  Ms. Castro Ramírez received a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Ramírez's nomination must be approved by the Senate. She would replace Sandra Henriquez, who left HUD in June after serving as assistant secretary for five years.

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