Planning Journey: Claudia Monterrosa, HUD's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grant Programs

Plan Dulce Podcast

This episode was recorded during last November's LUGARES conference -- LAP's annual virtual conference where the theme was Caminando P'alante.

As Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grant Programs, Claudia Monterrosa oversees affordable housing and community development programs, including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, the HOME Investment Partnerships program, the Housing Trust Fund, and CDBG Disaster Recovery funds, in addition to Department-wide energy and environmental policy.

Claudia brings decades of non-profit and public sector experience incorporating social justice, grassroots organizing, and equity to her work at HUD. Previously, Ms. Monterrosa served as the Chief Housing Officer for the City of Los Angeles. In this capacity she oversaw the implementation of Measure HHH’s $1.2 billion for the development of Permanent Supportive Housing and successfully secured over $1.6 billion for emergency rental assistance for COVID-impacted tenants. She served as the Public Policy & Research Director at the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department (HCIDLA), where she managed a team that secured more than $800 million in new funding for affordable housing, energy efficiency programs, foreclosure prevention, and strategic planning and preservation initiatives.

Claudia directly led efforts to secure the adoption and implementation of the City’s inaugural Eviction Defense Program, including $10.5 million in funding for the first year and subsequently securing an additional $30 million to extend the program through 2024. In 2017, her efforts led to the creation of the City's first permanent local source of funding for affordable housing via the adoption of the Affordable Housing Linkage Fee. In that same year, she led the City’s successful adoption of the Assessment of Fair Housing Plan under HUD’s new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule (AFFH).

Claudia holds an MA in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a BA in Political Science and Latin American & Iberian Studies from UC Santa Barbara.

Co-host: Haydee Urita-Lopez, Principal City Planner for the Los Angeles City Planning Department

Co-host: Grecia White, New Mobility Planner with the City of Boston.

Producer: Haydee Urita-Lopez

Editor: Grecia White

---------- Plan Dulce is a podcast by the Latinos and Planning Division of the American Planning Association.