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How Westbrook Housing landed the nation’s former federal HUD chief

By Robert Lowell Staff Writer

Portland native John Concannon, former director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is settling in as the new executive director of Westbrook Housing Authority.

Concannon is taking a breather while seeking funds to expand the number of local, affordable housing units.

“We’re watching closely the federal budget,” Concannon said in his conference room at Westbrook Housing. “We’re watching to see what happens.”

Concannon wrapped up his duties as HUD director in June and picked up the reins July 1 at Westbrook Housing, succeeding Chris Laroche, who retired. The housing authority’s seven-member board of commissioners hired Concannon after a nationwide search.

“We got very, very lucky to get him,” Colette Gagnon, chair of the Westbrook Housing Board of Commissioners, said in a phone call Monday.

A graduate of the Catholic Jesuit College of Holy Cross, Concannon volunteered with a Jesuit program to assist the homeless on Skid Row in Los Angeles in 2003, and also served a similar stint in Chicago until 2006. Following graduate school, he applied successfully for a job with HUD, launching a career of assisting people needing places to live.

Concannon was hired during the tenure of President Barack Obama, who he subsequently met at a Christmas party at the White House.

He was promoted to deputy HUD director in 2018 and became director in December 2022. Concannon’s office was in the HUD building just off the National Mall in the nation’s capital. The HUD secretary’s office was on the top floor.

Concannon served under three presidents. “I reported to a deputy assistant HUD secretary,” he said.

At HUD, Concannon focused on developing innovative policies to expand housing opportunities to benefit more people and he oversaw staff spread all over the country. He worked with 140 housing agencies nationwide, serving 600,000 families. “We got to travel a lot,” he said.

Well in advance of landing the Westbrook post, he relocated his family here four years ago. He and his wife, Ann, have two children, ages 5 and 2.

Concannon played soccer at Cheverus High School in Portland and is a 1998 graduate. His wife is a Deering graduate, but they met in Philadelphia, where he once lived while working for HUD.

He applied for the Westbrook Housing opening after learning about the availability of it from a government connection in Maine. Gagnon described Concannon as youthful and as having a good sense of humor.

As a Washington insider, Concannon’s appointment at Westbrook Housing works “in our favor,”Gagnon said.

Westbrook Housing has 14 properties with 1,800 households and he plans to follow the growth trajectory Laroche established.

Concannon said Westbrook Housing has been invited to Biddeford where it has four projects in the pipeline. He credits Laroche and the mayoral appointed board of commissioners with “a well-run organization.”

He will oversee a staff of 50 employees and has met with them.

He enjoys leisurely walks after leaving behind running to catch 6 a.m. flights from Portland to Washington and checking into hotels.

Now back at home, he has gained time to spend with his family and both he and his wife have relatives in the Portland area.