Oct 12, 2020
Meet Gerald Benoit, referred to as Jerry, one of the icons from the 1970s and a member of the Academy of Housing and Communities. He started out by directing a Section 23 Leased Housing program for the department of HUD where he kept moving up to become a special assistant to the office of public housing. He then became deputy director of the office of Indian housing. His biggest role, however, was director of the existing housing division where he oversaw the national implementation and management of the ongoing operations of Section 8 rental voucher, certificate and moderate rehabilitation programs through HUD offices assisting 1.5 million households with an annual budget of 7 billion dollars. This program has grown to be the largest subsidized housing program in the country.