Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi recently announced the appointment of a new executive director of the city’s Office of Housing.

Kevin Auger, a real estate professional with nearly four decades of experience in housing development and commercial real estate investment banking, has served as deputy director of the Office of Housing since July 2023.

He was promoted following the departure of the office’s former executive director, Denise Iseri- Matsubara, who recently resigned from a post she’d had with the city since March 2023, to accept a position with Catholic Charities Hawaii.

Iseri-Matsubara will now be executive director of Catholic Charities Housing Development Corp., or 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 also will 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 Oahu.

Auger’s salary for the position is $165,000 annually.

“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,” Blangiardi said in a statement. “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 Oahu home.”

Auger said he was excited to continue to work at the Office of Housing.

“We recognize that the availability of housing, and especially affordable housing, is the most important issue on the minds of our residents,” Auger said in a statement.

Auger and his team, according to the city, also will be responsible for things like:

>> Coordinating the infrastructure improvements that will be needed in certain parts of the island to support housing development, especially in transit- oriented development areas.

>> Playing a leading role in the creation of viable financing alternatives, to help increase the production of affordable housing beyond low-income housing tax credits.

>> Expanding capacity to create housing by partnering with local developers to deliver housing and mixed-use development on city-owned lands.

>> Working with the Honolulu City Council and colleagues across city departments to evaluate what’s working, what’s not working and what adjustments should be made to existing programs, rules and policies.

>> Completing the reorganization of the city’s housing functions to consolidate them under one executive department, as announced in the State of the City in March, enabling the city to be more efficient and effective in the execution of strategies that can accelerated delivery of housing, the city said.

Prior to accepting his current job with the city, Auger spent six years as redevelopment officer for the Hawaii Public Housing Authority.

He relocated to Hawaii following a seven-year stint in Hong Kong, where he worked as managing director of the Wells Fargo &Co.’s Asian real estate operation.

He 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 Nov. 18.