Building Congress Event
Construction Industry Breakfast
Vicki L. Been (Keynote Speaker and Panelist)
Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development
City of New York
Deputy Mayor Vicki Been leads the administration’s efforts to grow and diversify New York City's economy, invest in emerging industries across the five boroughs, build a new generation of affordable housing, and help New Yorkers secure good-paying jobs. The Deputy Mayor oversees and coordinates the operations of over 20 agencies, offices and affiliated entities, including: the Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Housing Development Corporation, the New York City Housing Authority, the Department of City Planning, the Public Design Commission, the Board of Standards and Appeals, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Libraries, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Office of Media & Entertainment, the Office of Housing Recovery Operations, NYC & Company, Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, the Trust for Governors Island, the Hudson River Park Trust and the Rent Guidelines Board.
Vicki Been has extensive experience fighting to make New York a more affordable and equitable city. As HPD Commissioner from 2014 to 2017, Been helped craft Housing New York, the Mayor’s plan to tackle the affordability crisis and create and preserve 200,000 affordable homes by 2024. After HPD made rapid progress, the plan was updated in 2017, setting a new goal of 300,000 affordable homes by 2026. During her tenure, Been oversaw the financing of a record 62,500 affordable homes – enough for 170,000 New Yorkers. She restructured the City’s programs to reach a wider range of incomes and secure more affordable housing for every public dollar spent. She also reformed the regulatory process to reduce the risk and cost of building and preserving affordable housing while ensuring its safety, quality, and financial stability. Been was instrumental in advancing the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law that that requires developers to dedicate a certain percentage of rental units at below market rate rents in areas that are rezoned for higher density. There are nearly 5,600 additional MIH homes in the affordable housing pipeline.
Been formerly served as the Director of NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, the Boxer Family Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, and an Affiliated Professor of Public Policy of the NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. The Furman Center is the leading authority on land use and housing issues in New York City and one of the premier research centers on urban policy in the United States. She has worked on assessing New York City’s land use patterns, the effects of Hurricane Sandy on housing and neighborhoods, the interplay of community benefit agreements and land use practices, and on a variety of affordable housing issues, including inclusionary zoning and supportive housing.
Been graduated from Colorado State University and received her J.D. from New York University School of Law. Been has served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and an Associate Professor of Law at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She clerked for Judge Edward Weinfeld of the Southern District of New York and Justice Harry Blackmun of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Louise Carroll (Panelist)
Commissioner
New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development
Louise Carroll is the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the nation's largest municipal housing agency. As Commissioner, Louise leads the charge to implement Mayor Bill de Blasio's five-borough, ten year Housing New York plan, which was accelerated and expanded through Housing New York 2.0 to create and preserve 300,000 affordable homes by 2026. She will also continue to strengthen the agency’s robust enforcement and anti-harassment efforts, working on multiple fronts to protect tenants and prevent displacement.
Louise was previously General Counsel and Senior Vice President at the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC). She formerly served at HPD from 2006 to 2018, most recently as Associate Commissioner for Housing Incentives. During her tenure at the agency, Louise was the primary architect of changes to the City’s tax programs to leverage greater affordability and better promote the goals of this Administration’s housing plan. Louise also led the creation of a compliance and enforcement unit to protect tenants’ rights and make sure landlords were following through on their promises to the City. She was also instrumental to both the design and implementation of the City’s path-breaking Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Program to require the creation of permanently affordable housing as part of residential rezonings, and streamlined and revamped the agency’s approach to the Voluntary Inclusionary Housing program to produce record numbers of affordable homes.
Louse was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands and raised in St. Lucia. She holds a JD from Tulane Law School, an MBA from the University of Leicester, England, and a B.Sc. from the University of Wales at Aberystwyth. Louise is a recipient of the Ibo Balton Community Planner Award from the Citizens Housing and Planning Council. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and their seven-year-old son.
Melanie E. La Rocca (Panelist)
Commissioner
New York City Department of Buildings
As Commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, Melanie La Rocca regulates and promotes the safe and lawful use of nearly 1.1 million buildings and more than 45,000 active construction sites. As Commissioner, Melanie is furthering the agency’s efforts to create a culture of safety on construction sites and enforce laws to protect all New York City residents, workers, and visitors. Under Commissioner La Rocca’s leadership, the agency is redoubling its modernization efforts to improve response times, bring clarity and consistency to agency operations, and insist on the highest standards of integrity, both in the construction industry and within the Department.
Previously, Commissioner La Rocca was Vice President of Development and External Affairs at the School Construction Authority (SCA), where she oversaw the Authority’s Real Estate Group and worked with communities throughout the city to create new schools for the city’s children. As part of this work, Melanie played a key role in implementing Mayor de Blasio’s Universal Pre-K program.
Prior to joining SCA, Commissioner La Rocca served as Chief of Staff to Christine C. Quinn, former Speaker of the New York City Council, and was a member of Queens Community Board 1. She received her bachelor’s degree from Fordham University.
Commissioner La Rocca is a native New Yorker and a lifelong Queens resident.
Sabrina Kanner (Moderator)
Executive Vice President, Design and Construction
Brookfield Properties
Sabrina Kanner is Executive Vice President, Design and Construction for Brookfield Properties. She oversees design and construction for Brookfield’s U.S. office and multifamily businesses, totaling more than 60 million square feet of premier properties that help define the skylines of New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Denver and Boston.
In her 35-year tenure with Brookfield and its real estate predecessor, Olympic & York, Ms. Kanner has held numerous positions, including in estimating and project management, ultimately rising to leadership and executive roles overseeing Brookfield’s award-winning design and construction team. Over that span, she played a key role in the construction, design and development or redevelopment of more than 40 million square feet of signature projects such as the construction of the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan (New York); restoration and renovation of the iconic Winter Garden at the World Financial Center after 9/11 (New York); major repositioning of Brookfield Place (New York); 300 Madison Avenue (New York); Bay Adelaide Centre (Toronto); 1225 Connecticut Avenue (Washington, D.C.) and 2001 M Street (Washington, D.C.).
Ms. Kanner is overseeing the design and construction of several major, high-profile projects, including the repositioning of Allen Center in Houston, 655 New York Avenue in Washington, D.C. and Manhattan West, Brookfield’s eight-acre, 7-million-square-foot mixed-use development on Manhattan’s Far West Side that will feature nearly six million square feet of Class-A office space, luxury residences, a boutique hotel and a vibrant urban environment with landscaped gardens and dynamic street-front retail.
Ms. Kanner has a B.A. from Union College. She is an active member of the real estate community in New York and the U.S. She serves as a member of WX; a Board Director of the New York Building Congress (Vice Chair), The Salvadori Center, The Opus Group, and The Regional Plan Association; and a Trustee of The National Building Museum (Secretary), and The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation.
Sabrina Kanner is Executive Vice President, Design and Construction for Brookfield Properties. She oversees design and construction for Brookfield’s U.S. office and multifamily businesses, totaling more than 60 million square feet of premier properties that help define the skylines of New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Denver and Boston.
In her 35-year tenure with Brookfield and its real estate predecessor, Olympic & York, Ms. Kanner has held numerous positions, including in estimating and project management, ultimately rising to leadership and executive roles overseeing Brookfield’s award-winning design and construction team. Over that span, she played a key role in the construction, design and development or redevelopment of more than 40 million square feet of signature projects such as the construction of the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan (New York); restoration and renovation of the iconic Winter Garden at the World Financial Center after 9/11 (New York); major repositioning of Brookfield Place (New York); 300 Madison Avenue (New York); Bay Adelaide Centre (Toronto); 1225 Connecticut Avenue (Washington, D.C.) and 2001 M Street (Washington, D.C.).
Ms. Kanner is overseeing the design and construction of several major, high-profile projects, including the repositioning of Allen Center in Houston, 655 New York Avenue in Washington, D.C. and Manhattan West, Brookfield’s eight-acre, 7-million-square-foot mixed-use development on Manhattan’s Far West Side that will feature nearly six million square feet of Class-A office space, luxury residences, a boutique hotel and a vibrant urban environment with landscaped gardens and dynamic street-front retail.
Ms. Kanner has a B.A. from Union College. She is an active member of the real estate community in New York and the U.S. She serves as a member of WX; a Board Director of the New York Building Congress (Vice Chair), The Salvadori Center, The Opus Group, and The Regional Plan Association; and a Trustee of The National Building Museum (Secretary), and The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation.
