Anthony L. Marchetta (fifth from the right), the outgoing executive director of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, was among those on hand last fall when Community Investment Strategies Inc. opened a new affordable housing community for seniors in Middletown. — Courtesy: Community Investment Strategies Inc.
By Joshua Burd
The longtime head of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency has stepped down from the post and is preparing to start his own consulting firm.
Anthony L. Marchetta, who spent seven years as executive director, left the agency at the end of December after a tenure in which the HMFA funded or created more than 38,000 housing opportunities in the state. Those opportunities have or will have generated total development costs of nearly $7 billion with significant economic impacts, the agency said, including the creation of thousands units for residents impacted by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“I am very proud of our efforts at NJMHFA to increase affordable housing for our residents, address the devastating impact on housing due to Sandy and create new initiatives to spur the development of homes for families, seniors and special needs residents across the state,” Marchetta said. “It has been a tremendous privilege to work alongside the dedicated professionals at NJHMFA and to serve the people of New Jersey.”
During his tenure, Marchetta spearheaded a nationally recognized effort to change the state’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit Qualified Allocation Plan, the agency said. The changes helped deconcentrate affordable housing production in areas of poverty and shifted projects to high opportunity areas that are job centers, have high-performing schools and access to public transit.
The agency also said that, of the housing opportunities created, Marchetta led the initiative to implement its Conduit Bond Program, which played a key role in the production of 28,350 multifamily rental units. The HMFA in recent years has also administered more than $700 million in federal Community Disaster Block Grant funds tied to the state’s recovery from Sandy, helping to stabilize communities impacted by the superstorm and create nearly 7,000 rental apartments for families, seniors and special needs residents.
Marchetta joined the Trenton-based agency in September 2010 after 25 years in the private public sector. In his most recent position before the HMFA, he was a vice president with LCOR Inc. for 10 years and oversaw development throughout the mid-Atlantic region.
His new business, ALM Consulting Group, will be based in the Princeton area.
Other HMFA initiatives led by Marchetta were geared toward increasing housing and helping integrate people with special needs into the community, the agency said in a news release. Those include the Special Needs Housing Partnership Loan Program and the Supportive Housing Connection, which resulted in the creation of 2,200 opportunities for special needs residents.
The agency under Marchetta also undertook a massive data consolidation initiative, known as the Agency Consolidated Information System, which was nationally recognized and completely overhauled the agency’s data management culture.
