Carol Galante led affordable development firm Bridge Housing before President Barack Obama tapped her to serve in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Carol Galante, who made her mark on the Bay Area as a trailblazer for affordable housing, now applies her passion for housing policy on the federal level.

Galante served for years as executive director of Bridge Housing and had previously been executive director of Eden Housing before heading to Washington D.C. a few years ago.

President Barack Obama recruited Galante to serve in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she is assistant secretary, and also serves as acting Federal Housing Administration Commissioner.

The mortgage crises of 2008 and subsequent downturn shook the real estate industry giving public officials like Galante with plenty of issues to address.

She recently sat down with the San Francisco Business Times to talk about her role, the future of foreclosures, the role of FHA financing in the housing industry and what she misses most about the Bay Area.

San Francisco Business Times: You’re tracking housing all over the country, can you talk about how the Bay Area compares with the rest of the nation?

Carol Galante: It’s very, very micro market in terms of how different areas are doing. Even within California what we see are some incredible strengths and then neighborhoods that still have some significant challenges.

SFBT: Since you’ve taken on this role, what have been the greatest challenges you’ve had to deal with?

CG: The depth of the housing crisis. When I was thinking about leaving the Bay Area, at least temporarily, and going to Washington, we knew there were challenges, but they’ve been deeper, and more intractable than any of us would have expected. We saw the crisis kind of evolve over time.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

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Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2012/10/carol-galante-talks-hud-fha.html