Mayor Blangiardi announces appointment of City’s new housing director
HONOLULU – Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced Wednesday that Kevin Auger, a highly accomplished real estate professional with nearly four decades of experience in housing development and commercial real estate investment banking, has been appointed executive director of the City’s Office of Housing.
Auger has served as deputy director of the Office of Housing since July 2023. He is being promoted following the departure of former executive director Denise Iseri-Matsubara, who resigned from her post with the City last week to accept a position with Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi as executive director of Catholic Charities Housing Development Corporation (CCHDC).
As executive director, Auger will lead cross-sector collaboration and policy change to stimulate the acquisition, development, and preservation of housing, and specifically affordable housing, for all of Oahu’s residents. Auger will also be principally responsible for the direction of the City’s Affordable Housing Working Group, which meets regularly to identify and execute strategies that promote and increase the housing supply on Oʻahu.
“Kevin has been absolutely terrific to work with as deputy director of our Office of Housing over the past 18 months, having come to the City with almost four decades of global, high-level commercial real estate and finance experience,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “He is perfectly qualified and well-suited to meet the many challenges we plan to overcome as we continue to achieve our housing goals and meet the needs of the people who call Oʻahu home.”
“At all levels of Mayor Blangiardi’s administration, we recognize that the availability of housing, and especially affordable housing, is the most important issue on the minds of our residents,” said Kevin Auger. “I am excited to continue the critical work that our dedicated and committed team in the Office of Housing has already done to make Oʻahu an affordable place to live, work and play.”
Prior to accepting his current job with the City, Auger spent six years as the Redevelopment Officer for the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority. He relocated to Hawaiʻi following a seven-year stint in Hong Kong, where he worked as managing director for the Wells Fargo Corporation’s Asian real estate operation. Auger also spent seven years in South Korea, managing real estate investments in the North Asian market for Lehman Brothers.
Auger’s tenure as executive director officially began Monday, November 18, 2024.
