Jerilyn Perine, Executive Director

Jerilyn Perine has built a talented team at CHPC to spearhead a high impact agenda to improve the quality of public debate, inform public policy, promote new ideas, and engage a wide audience as well as a diverse and active Board Membership to improve NYC neighborhoods. Ms. Perine is an urban planner with 30 years of experience in housing and community development. She was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development by both Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to lead America’s largest municipal housing agency with more than 3000 employees and an annual operating and capital budget of $800 million.

As Commissioner, Ms. Perine was the author of Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan, announced in December 2002 that provided $3 billion over 5 years to preserve and create over 65,000 units of affordable housing. Under Mayor Giuliani she designed and oversaw the management and operation of programs designed to return a significant inventory of tax foreclosed residential property to local, private ownership.

She has lectured widely and collaborated with practitioners in Germany, Austria, Spain, Northern Ireland, England, and Australia. Ms. Perine is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and was a member of the International Brownfield Exchange between 1998 and 2002. She serves on the board of Highbridge Voices, a children’s choir in the South Bronx; West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing; and the New York Housing Conference.

Harold Shultz, Senior Fellow

Harold Shultz is an attorney who served in New York City government for more than 30 years and specialized in policy and legal affairs particularly in regard to housing preservation, community development, Code Enforcement, and homelessness. As Special Counsel at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Harold was responsible for federal policy issues and was instrumental in the creation of the Third Party Transfer Program and the revised in rem legislation, the negotiation of the 203(k) settlement with HUD, local legislation regarding lead paint in residential housing, the redevelopment of Noble Drew Ali Plaza in Brooklyn and restructuring Code Enforcement. In addition, he oversaw the agency’s computer technology and the production of the Housing and Vacancy Survey.

He is well known for his extensive legal knowledge, his understanding of a troubled housing market, his pioneering work to preserve New York City’s Single Room occupancy housing stock, and his efforts to improve conditions for tenants in the City’s aging housing stock. For CHPC, he has written extensively on topics ranging from affordable housing finance to explaining lead paint rules to recommending new methods to collect water liens. Currently he is working to develop effective solutions for New York City’s over mortgaged rental housing. Harold is also currently the President of Neighborhood Restore; a non-profit organization that administers the Third Party Transfer Program.

Ilene Popkin, Senior Fellow

Ilene Popkin is a housing professional with more than 30 years of experience in housing and community development.  Most recently Ilene has spent the last five years as a senior executive at the New York City Housing Authority where she led the effort to develop underutilized NYCHA property for affordable housing, schools, and other community facilities.  Under her leadership over 4,000 units of affordable housing out of a goal of 6,000 units have already been completed or are underway.  She was instrumental in the federalization of 20,000 units of public housing through the creative use of tax exempt bonds, low income housing tax credits, and federal stimulus funds.

Ilene was a founding staff member of HPD’s newly formed Division of Homeless Housing Development and she led HPD’s planning, negotiation, and program development of the historic New York/New York Agreement which created housing for special needs and mentally ill adults.  She was a senior team member responsible for the creation of Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan.  Ilene was the creative force behind HPD’s successful philanthropic fundraising efforts which made possible international housing conferences; the establishment of HPD’s Fellowship Program; initiated the work to prevent predatory lending and improve improve homeownership; and to finance innovative programs to build green affordable housing.

Marsha Nicholson, Special Programs Director

Marsha Nicholson holds a BA in Liberal Arts from Marshall University. Prior to joining CHPC in April 2005, she worked as an independent contractor using skills she had honed in the corporate underwriting department of West Virginia Public Broadcasting where she procured sponsorships and instituted and managed a formal grant calendar. Previously, she managed programs and services for Trustees, volunteers, volunteer managers, and high-end donors for members of the national service organization Opera America.

Marsha designs and manages all of CHPC’s fund raising events, including the Annual Luncheon which raises the majority of CHPC funding and hosts over 800 guests. Marsha is also responsible for board liaison and organizes all board and Executive Committee meetings. She is also responsible for ensuring that our work reaches key audiences through the management of our various mailing lists and the continual improvement of our marketing and the formatting of our publications.

Sarah Watson, Senior Policy Analyst/Researcher

Sarah Watson is a housing policy expert from London and joined CHPC in 2007. She worked in the development and management of affordable housing projects in London and holds an MSc in Housing and Regeneration Policy from the London School of Economics. Her specialist UK work experience has been in resident involvement to improve neighborhoods and the quality of housing. In her academic work, Sarah’s main focus has been on evaluating projects and government policies in the pursuit of delivering affordable, good quality housing, and her thesis examined public sector approaches to housing homeless families.

For CHPC, Sarah contributes to New York City-based research endeavors with the framework of her experience and knowledge of housing from other international cities. Sarah’s main research projects for CHPC are focused on population, household composition and housing in NYC, gentrification, green development, housing design and space standards, and the work of CHPC’s Zoning Committee.

In addition to her analytical work, Sarah is also the main contact for CHPC’s Archival Library. She is leading the project to save and preserve our unique collection and she writes a monthly housing history piece for our website. She is responsible for both the design and the updating of CHPC’s website content, and also oversees the William R Ginsberg Fellowship program.