MassHousing’s David Keene Elected President of National Leased Housing Association

BOSTON—MassHousing’s Chief Preservation Officer, David Keene, was recently elected to serve a one-year term as President on the National Leased Housing Association (NLHA) Board of Directors. Keene has served on the NLHA Board of Directors since 2014 and as President will help the Association fulfill its mission of providing members with information and advocacy concerning low-and moderate-income rental housing.

NLHA’s lead team welcomed Keene and is looking forward to him carrying out the organization’s goals. “As President of the National Leased Housing Association, David Keene will continue NLHA’s work to ensure sufficient funding for assisted housing programs and he will focus on expanding the bipartisan support for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program,” says NLHA Executive Director Denise B. Muha.

Keene believes that the LIHTC program is vital for the production and preservation of affordable housing. “Through its unique public-private investor partnership, the LIHTC program has successfully provided scarce housing financing resources for more than 30 years, but it can be improved to further fill the critical need for affordable housing in this country,” lauds Keene. He looks forward to the opportunity to make these revisions and advocate for the program in his new position. Keene will leverage NLHA’s strong industry relationships to push for enactment of the bipartisan Cantwell-Hatch bill in the Senate (S. 548) that would expand the LIHTC program by 50%.

“David Keene is a nationally recognized expert in state and federal programs involving subsidized rental housing and the financing of affordable housing,” concurs MassHousing Executive Director Tim Sullivan. During his 30 years at MassHousing, Keen has overseen more than $1 billion in refinancing for rental housing, tax credit recapitalizations, and other loan transactions, as well as more than $500 million in annual Section 8 subsidies. Keene has also developed several national award-winning programs, including those for Section 8 Proactive Preservation, Section 202 refinancing, Preservation Vouchers for state-assisted housing, Section 8 restructurings, and Expiring Use Friendly Prepayments. “The NLHA has made an excellent choice in electing David as its President and his expertise and experience will benefit thousands of people across the country who rely on low and moderate-income housing,” adds Sullivan.

Keene also serves on the Board of the National Housing Conference (NHC) and as Secretary on the Board of the Institute for Responsible Housing Preservation (IRHP) in Washington. Prior to joining MassHousing, Keene worked in New York, Washington, and Texas in the area of affordable housing and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree and Master’s Degree in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

David Keene