Pamela Hughes Patenaude is a nationally recognized housing policy and disaster recovery expert, with experience as an executive in the private, non-profit, and government sectors. As principal at Granite Housing Strategies, LLC, she provides strategic advice for clients engaged in real estate development, affordable housing, and disaster recovery management. She currently serves on several corporate and non-profit boards, including Target Hospitality Corporation, Loan Depot, Habitat for Humanity International, and the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Patenaude served previously the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 2017–2019, where she managed the operations of the cabinet-level housing and community development agency. In this role, she provided oversight for an unprecedented $37 billion in funding for long-term disaster recovery efforts in California, Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Outside of her work in the federal government, Patenaude served as president of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America’s Families and director of housing policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center. Patenaude also served as executive vice president of the Urban Land Institute and founding executive director of the Institute’s Terwilliger Center for Housing.
A New Hampshire native, Patenaude earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Saint Anselm College and a Master of Science degree in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University. She began her career in housing and community development at the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority and served as state director and deputy chief of staff for U.S. Senator Bob Smith. She was the recipient of the National Housing Conference 2022 Housing Visionary Award, the CoreLogic EPIQ Impact Award, was honored as one of Housing Wire magazine’s “2013 Woman of Influence,” and received the Saint Anselm College Alumni Award of Merit in 2006. She was appointed in 2025 to serve on the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.