The Portland Housing Bureau is gaining a new interim director, the city announced Wednesday. Quisha Light will start on May 18 after the current interim director, Michael Buonocore, steps down to become executive director of Home Forward.

Light, currently the city’s Public Works customer service division manager, oversees citywide customer service strategy, service delivery systems, affordability programs, and customer experience modernization. She joined the city team in 2022 as the Portland Water Bureau‘s director of customer service and led major technology modernization efforts as well as strengthened end-to-end customer operations. She later served as the bureau’s interim director.

“I am grateful to Quisha for her willingness to step up and lead this bureau and ensure there is no lapse in leadership as the city makes challenging budget decisions to address the ongoing housing and budgetary crises,” Donnie Oliveira, deputy city administrator for community and economic development, stated in a city press release. “She brings a customer-focused lens to the work, and when we are talking about providing housing to Portlanders, that service can be life-saving.”

Before entering public service, Light spent over a decade at Portland General Electric working in legal, strategy, integrated resource planning and product development roles, the press release states. She launched innovative clean energy and demand response initiatives. Prior to joining PGE, she practiced law in Tennessee.

The city’s Community and Economic Development service area and the Portland Housing Bureau plan to open a recruitment process for a permanent director early this summer. The bureau expects Light to serve in the interim until the permanent director assumes the role, Portland Housing Bureau spokesperson Gabriel Mathews stated in an email, adding that there is not a firm timeframe for when that transition will take place.

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