Kevin Auger became the Honolulu Office of Housing’s executive director this week, stepping up from his prior role as deputy director to lead the city’s efforts to acquire, build and preserve more housing as many residents struggle with high prices.

He replaces Denise Iseri-Matsubara who resigned last week to join Catholic Charities Hawaii as executive director of Catholic Charities Housing Development Corp.

Auger has been the office’s deputy director since July 2023. He previously worked for six years at Hawaii Public Housing Authority and in the private sector at Lehman Brothers and Wells Fargo, where he managed the company’s Asian real estate operation.

“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,” Mayor Rick Blangiardi said in a press release Wednesday.

In the throes of a housing crisis, Blangiardi said at his State of the City Address in March, the city intends to take a more active role building new units. This entails eventually combining the city’s real estate arm with its housing office to create a new Department of Housing and Land Management.

“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,” Auger said in a statement. “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.”