Master's in Urban & Regional Planning
Danilo Pelletiere

Danilo Pelletiere was appointed the District of Columbia Preservation Officer by Mayor Muriel Bowser in August 2021 and reappointed to the position at the start of her third term in January 2023. In this position he lead’s the Districts efforts to preservation of affordable housing and oversees the Housing Preservation Unit, the Single Family Residential Rehabilitation Program, and the Conversions and Sales Division at the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Since 2015, he has also served as a senior policy advisor at DHCD focusing on policy and legislative affairs. In this position he works on a wide range of issues and policies including the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act and District Opportunity to Purchase Act, DC Housing Preservation Fund, the DC Flex shallow voucher, COVID-19 relief and recovery, condominiums, rent control, fair housing, and the agency budget.

Before working for the District, Mr. Pelletiere was a Senior Economist in the Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development where he advised senior leadership on multifamily affordable housing preservation, community development, fair housing, and public housing policy matters and conducted regulatory and policy analyses in these areas. He also designed research projects and participated in awarding and overseeing research grants and contracts.

Prior to that, as the Chief Economist and Research Director of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Mr. Pelletiere led a team conducting rapid-response and in-depth research and policy analysis and developed numerous policy tools including the District of Columbia Preservation Catalog and Network, which continue to this day providing data and coordinating the preservation of affordable housing in the city. In this role he was frequently interviewed and quoted for media reports including the New York Times, Nightly Business Report, NPR, and the Seattle Times.

In addition to housing and community development policy, Mr. Pelletiere has worked on transportation, technology, and environmental policy at George Mason University and the Sierra Club.

Mr. Pelletiere is the author or co-author of over 50 published academic articles, book chapters, and professional reports on the topics of affordable housing, environmental policy, technology policy, and domestic and international economic development. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Regional Science and History from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from George Mason University. He is a past Fulbright Scholar in Germany in the field of economic development. As a resident of Capitol Hill for over 30 years, he is also a veteran of many local political and issue campaigns. He spends his limited free time maintaining his home and playing pick-up soccer.