James Rubin, the state’s top housing official, is slated to become Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s next director of state operations, multiple sources confirmed to POLITICO New York on Friday.
Rubin, commissioner of the state Homes and Community Renewal agency, has already begun telling state colleagues of his new assignment in a recent email, the sources said.
An administration spokesperson did not comment.
Rubin is set to begin his new role next week, following a budget hearing on housing that had been scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed a week due to the snowstorm.
His appointment is an internal move to fill a post vacated last month by longtime Cuomo adviser Jim Malatras, who left the administration to take a position at SUNY’s Rockefeller Institute of Government.
Members of Cuomo’s team have said they were recruiting Obama administration veterans for open jobs, but no one has come aboard. Malatras’ duties were split among five other Cuomo aides as the administration considered its options.
Rubin was tapped in May 2015 to head an agency that oversees the development and preservation of low- to middle-income housing throughout the state. The agency handles the financing of homes through bonds, grants, loans, housing tax credits and bonding authority to municipalities. In New York City, it also oversees rent regulations.
Rubin worked to implement a robust affordable housing plan, but was persistently stymied by Albany politics.
In early 2016, a law governing the 421-a tax break expired when labor unions and real estate officials could not agree on wage mandates. A deal to revive it is in the works, but has yet to be passed into law. The expiration of 421-a abruptly halted new rental projects throughout New York City.
In addition, Cuomo’s $2 billion plan to create 100,000 units of housing for low- and middle-income tenants and another 6,000 apartments for formerly homeless New Yorkers in need of social services has been held up by the state Legislature. The state Senate wouldn’t approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to free up the funding without a deal on 421-a, and the Assembly wanted more money allocated to the New York City Housing Authority.
Only $150 million of the total has been signed off on so far.
“I think he came in, he set a vision for the statewide housing plan. It’s unfortunate that the money has been held up but most of the advocates are supportive of what he outlined for strategic vision for investment for affordable housing in the state,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference. She said she had not heard of Rubin’s job change before being asked on Friday.
In his budget proposal released last month, Cuomo included an additional $500 million to be appropriated in the 2020 fiscal year, making his entire housing plan $2.5 billion. Of that total, $950 million would fund the 6,000 “supportive housing” units, $601 million would be spent on new construction for apartments available to low-income tenants and $41.5 million would go toward home ownership programs.
Rubin is expected to be replaced by RuthAnne Visnauskas, executive deputy commissioner at the agency.
Rubin previously served as executive director of the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery. Before that, he was the state director of the president’s Hurricane Sandy Recovery and Rebuilding Task Force and a senior adviser to Shaun Donovan, the former federal housing secretary.