Friday, June 6, 2008

Department of Housing and Community Development Director Selected as Treasurer for the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies

Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Director Paula C. Sampson was recently elected as treasurer of the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (NALHFA) at the association’s Spring Educational Conference in Los Angeles.   Ms. Sampson has initiated and actively supported numerous projects and new affordable housing initiatives in her years of service to Fairfax County including Fairfax County’s Affordable Housing Preservation Initiative, an initiative which has preserved more than 2,200 units of affordable housing since its launch and generated tens of millions of dollars for the preservation of affordable housing.  She also developed the concept of Magnet Housing in the county, an effort to provide workforce housing to individuals while assisting their transition from a job to a career.  As director, Ms. Sampson oversees a variety of programs on the federal, state and local levels for the FCRHA and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. This responsibility entails duties of development, preservation ownership and operation of rental housing including housing for senior citizens and other special needs populations; rental assistance; financing of multifaceted real estate transactions using complex financial structures; loans for homeownership and home improvements. She started her career as an Urban Planner in Michigan, and then relocated to Washington D.C. where she became a Congressional Lobbyist for the National Association of Counties. Ms. Sampson served as HCD’s Director of Real Estate Finance from 1986 to 1993 and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Connecticut Housing Investment Fund, Inc. before returning to the HCD in 1999.  She also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Community Development Association.