Two champions of affordable and workforce housing received the third annual Regional Housing Leadership Award from Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress at the “Housing the Hudson Valley” conference June 13th in Poughkeepsie, NY.
The private sector winner is Karen FitzPatrick of M&T Bank, who specializes in educating and helping first-time and low and moderate income home purchasers, and has for more than ten years headed M&T’s list of top loan producers. “Karen’s caring for these families is unparalleled in the industry,” said Al De Salvo, M&T’s community reinvestment officer for the capital region and the Hudson Valley. “Her caring does not stop at the closing table.
She often checks in with her clients to see if they are doing okay. If they are not, she finds a way to help them.”
The public sector winner is Westchester County’s Deputy Planning Commissioner Norma Drummond, a resident of East Fishkill who has also chaired the town’s planning and zoning boards. “Norma has tirelessly advocated for the creation of affordable housing in Westchester County and throughout the Hudson Valley,” said Larry Regan, president of Regan Development and a member of Pattern’s Housing Committee. “Her pragmatic approach to the issue has resulted in many new, affordable housing opportunities close to where Westchester families work.”
“These courageous housing leaders have significantly improved the quality of life in the Hudson Valley with their single-minded focus on providing an affordable place to live for our young people, our seniors, and many others who in this economic climate would otherwise have to move from our region,” said Joseph Czajka, vice president of Pattern.
“We call them our ‘housing heroes of the Hudson Valley.’”
Pattern for Progress would like to thank event sponsors: Gold sponsor Jacobowitz & Gubits; silver sponsors Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, Ulster Savings Bank, and Westchester Medical Center; bronze sponsors Cannon Heyman and Weiss, Ecosystems Strategies, Ecotech Spray Foam, Kearney Realty and Development, Mohonk Preserve, Regan Development, Rhinebeck Savings Bank, and VHB and Saccardi & Schiff.
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress is an independent policy, planning and advocacy not-for-profit that promotes regional, balanced and sustainable solutions to enhance the growth and vitality of the nine-county region including Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester.
