Lorena McDowell

Lorena McDowell leads Wake County’s Department of Affordable Housing & Community Revitalization. Here, she and her team are responsible for leading the charge on a wide array of affordable housing efforts, including homeless services, permanent supportive housing and multimillion-dollar annual investment in affordable housing development. Prior to her work with Wake County, Lorena served as vice president of programs for the largest human service agency in northern Virginia and as a deputy director in Atlanta under Mayor Kasim Reed. In Atlanta, Lorena’s work was specifically focused on retooling the Atlanta Homelessness Continuum of Care system that ultimately resulted in a significant reduction in the number of residents experiencing homelessness in the Atlanta metropolitan area.