City Commissioner Carmen Rubio today announced that Helmi Hisserich will be the next director of the Portland Housing Bureau. She will join the bureau in February.
“I am thrilled that Helmi Hisserich is bringing her years of expertise to the Portland Housing Bureau,” Rubio said. “We are still in a housing crisis amid uncertain market conditions, but the City must continue to set ambitious goals and meet these challenges with the urgency they demand.”
Hisserich is a forward-thinking housing leader who has worked with a wide range of civic, community, and elected leaders to advance solutions to the affordable housing and homeless crisis. During a 25-year career with the City of Los Angeles, she served as Deputy Mayor of Housing and Homelessness and as the director of Housing Development and Finance at the Los Angeles Housing Department, where she oversaw the implementation of more than 6,000 units of affordable housing.
Since 2021 Hisserich has served as a director at the Global Policy Leadership Academy, an educational institution that prepares policy leaders to tackle complex societal challenges, where she has led U.S.-based housing policy makers to Austria to learn the Vienna Social Housing Model, a renowned example of how to provide high-quality and affordable housing for a large and diverse population.
Hisserich earned a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Southern California and a master’s degree from Cornell University with an emphasis in finance. She attended the Harvard Kennedy School Program for Senior Executives in State and Local government and was awarded a Stanton Fellowship in 2016 for thought leadership in housing.
“I want to thank Interim Housing Director Michael Buonocore for leading the bureau since September and for staying on board as Deputy Director through June,” Rubio added. “His experience and credibility in the housing and community sector have been essential during this leadership transition.”