Speaker

Christie Peale

CEO & Executive Director

The Center for NYC Neighborhoods

Christie Peale has served as the CEO and Executive Director of the Center for NYC Neighborhoods since 2012. She joined the Center as Deputy Director in 2008 when it was launched as the city’s public private partnership response to the foreclosure crisis. Under her leadership, the Center has become a leading local and national voice for affordable homeownership, significantly expanding the portfolio of resources, services and capital available for homeowners. In partnership with the NYS Office of the Attorney General, the Center has administered the Homeowner Protection Program since 2012, providing home saving services to almost 20,000 New Yorkers per year. Christie also helped the Center raise millions of dollars for homeowners recovering from Hurricane Sandy, leading to the development of Floodhelpny.org and a $7.5 million resiliency program for coastal communities.

More recently, Christie has led the organization in administering the New York State Homeowner Assistance Fund to help over 17,000 New York homeowners at risk of default, foreclosure, and displacement as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In partnership with NYS Homes & Community Renewal (HCR), the Center’s CDFI, Sustainable Neighborhoods LLC, distributed over $465 million in assistance on behalf of New York’s families.

Christie serves on the Board of Directors for organizations that work to strengthen and promote permanently affordable homeownership opportunities, including State of NY Mortgage Agency (SONYMA), Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD), Restored Homes, Habitat for Humanity New York City Community Fund, Community Partnership Development Corporation, Interboro Community Land Trust, the Santander Community Advisory Board, and the Onity Group Community Advisory Board.

Before joining the Center, she underwrote affordable housing preservation deals for the New York State Housing Finance Agency, and worked for affordable housing developers in Washington Heights and Bushwick. She also served in healthcare advocacy roles for Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the Medicare Rights Center, the Women’s Prison Association and BronxWorks. Christie completed the NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program and received a B.A. from Harvard College and a Masters of Social Work in Community Organizing and Planning from Hunter College.