Michael Liu

Chief Strategy Officer

Michael Liu has over 40 years of experience in housing policy and finance beginning from his service as a Delegate to the 1978 Hawaii State Constitution Convention. His career has also included service with the federal government as U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary for Small Community and Rural Development and U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. In the private sector, he practiced real estate law for 13 years, and held executive officer positions with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, Bank of America (FSB), and Dutko Grayling. Prior to joining Swerdlow Group, Michael served as senior advisor on housing to the City of Miami’s City Manager, which followed a 9-year term as Miami-Dade County’s Public Housing and Community Development (PHCD) Director, the largest housing agency in the State of Florida.

Among many accomplishments, Michael can point to creation of HUD’s Capital Fund Financing Program (like the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD)) a financing tool that involves leveraging private sector funds with public housing subsidy) that raised over $2 billion in its first 18 months of private sector funds for investment in public housing; expansion of the Native American home mortgage program 184 to assist with homeownership on non-tribal lands; establishment of RAD as the formal basis for the redevelopment approach for all of public housing in Miami-Dade County; improving PHCD’s 7 year public housing sub-standard designation to standard after 1 year; and establishing the redevelopment of public housing sites “Liberty Square/Lincoln Gardens” and the Senior Campus (now known as River Parc), developments that will involve in over $1 billion in equity, debt, and grants, and upon completion result in over 15,000 new and/or total rehabilitated units.    

Michael is a graduate of Stanford University (BA) and the University of Hawaii’s Richardson School Law. He is a member of the Hawaii and Washington, DC bar associations.