Housing and Planning gets new assistant director

Cupid S. Alexander will start his new position as assistant director of Austin’s Housing and Planning Department in early August. According to a news release from the city, Alexander “will oversee programming and policy implementation related to the department’s inclusive planning and displacement prevention initiatives.” At his current job, as division director of Neighborhoods, Housing and Human Services in Spokane, Washington, he “oversees a staff of 40 with five direct reports. His leadership and areas of expertise include community development; strategic planning; and program oversight to address numerous community services and projects to help improve life outcomes” in Spokane. Prior to that, he “designed and implemented public policy platforms and strategies regarding housing, economic development and community engagement on behalf of the Office of the Mayor and the city of Portland.”