Mayor de Blasio Announces Two Appointments to the Rent Guidelines Board

Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced two new appointments to the Rent Guidelines Board: David Reiss, a Brooklyn Law School professor specializing in property law, and Hilary Botein, a professor at Baruch College's Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. The board is responsible for establishing rent adjustments for approximately one million dwelling units subject to rent stabilization in New York City. Reiss and Botein will serve as public members of the board.

Professor Reiss concentrates on real estate finance and community development. He is the founding director of the Community Development Clinic, and teaches a Property Law Colloquium at Brooklyn Law School. Reiss was a visiting clinical associate professor at the Seton Hall Law School Center for Social Justice; an associate in the New York office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in its real estate department; and an associate in the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster in its land use and environmental law group. He also clerked for Judge Timothy Lewis of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Prior to attending law school, he worked for a non-profit organization that assists people who have psychiatric disabilities as they make the transition from shelters and hospitals to independent living.

Hilary Botein is an associate professor at Baruch College's Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. Her research explores factors that influence urban development, with special attention to policies and programs underlying affordable housing and community development, including for vulnerable populations. She teaches courses on housing policy, housing and community development policy, and a course for the National Urban Fellows graduate program. She has been at Baruch since 2007. She was a Public Policy Fellow at Columbia University, and from 1999 to 2003, she was Director of Program & Policy Development at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Prior to her academic career, she worked for 18 years as an attorney and policy analyst on affordable housing and economic justice issues, primarily in New York City.