Katherine Harasz will now serve as the new Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara (HACSC), after being appointed by the HACSC's Board of Commissioners.
"Following a nationwide search, we are not only confident in our choice but also delighted to be working with Katherine Harasz, who is deeply committed to the agency's mission of keeping families housed," says Kathy Espinoza-Howard, HACSC's Board of Commissioners chairwoman. "She already has assisted the agency in navigating through tumultuous years of congressional budget gridlock, unprecedented sequester cuts to Section 8 funding, and a government shutdown. Katherine is uniquely qualified to continue managing the agency while advocating at local and national levels on behalf of Silicon Valley's low-income families."
According to the press release of HACSC in PR NewsWire, Harasz has over 25 years of administrative and legal knowledge in all aspects of real estate acquisition, development and construction of public and public-private projects, finance, environmental quality, public records, and labor and employment law at the city, county, state and federal levels. Harasz joined the leadership team of HACSC as deputy executive director and general counsel in 2012, and has been the agency's interim executive director since July 2015. She also serves on the boards of the National Leased Housing Association, NOVA Workforce Development, and Destination: Home and the Continuum of Care Program for the Santa Clara County.
Harasz was deputy county counsel at the County of Santa Clara and has also served as associate counsel with the City of San José Redevelopment Agency, before she joined HACSC. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida.
The Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara was established by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 1967 as an independent local government agency to administer the federal rental assistance programs authorized by the United States Housing Act of 1937.
