Shenae Draughn, right, responding to a room of applause at her appointment. Shenae Draughn will once again step in as the interim head of the Housing Authority of New Haven and its affiliate organizations, after Karen Dubois-Walton steps down in November.Starting Nov. 2, Draughn will fill in for current president DuBois-Walton, who is taking on a new role as the head of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven beginning next month.The Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to appoint Draughn to helm, at least for now, the public housing agency and its nonprofit affordable housing development and management arms (known collectively as Elm City Communities) at the board’s October meeting on Tuesday afternoon.Amid applause and congratulations, the board also unanimously voted to create a subcommittee focused on finding a permanent director. ​“We hopefully should be able to do that in a short period of time,” said Board Chair William Kilpatrick.Draughn has served as the executive vice president of Elm City Communities and the Glendower Group (the agency’s affordable housing development arm). She started at the organization in 2009 and in recent years has filled an interim president role during DuBois-Walton’s mayoral and state treasurer campaigns. Draughn has played a key role in the agency’s efforts to renovate existing units and, increasingly, build new mixed-income housing across the city. (According to a press release from Elm City Communities, Draughn has ​“facilitated over $800 million in real estate development in the Greater New Haven area.”) She has also overseen the agency’s Section 8/Housing Choice Voucher administration.Draughn ​“could not be more qualified,” said DuBois-Walton as she introduced the motion to appoint Draughn.“I’m most grateful to the board for the opportunity,” Draughn said after Tuesday’s meeting. ​“I’m excited about it and don’t take it lightly.” When asked about her anticipated priorities and challenges, Draughn stressed that she is serving in an interim role for now. When asked whether she is interested in the role on a more permanent basis, Draughn said, ​“We’ll see what the board decides!” Outgoing President Karen DuBois-Walton: Draughn "could not be more qualified." Tuesday marked DuBois-Walton’s final board meeting after 17 years leading Elm City Communities. In her last presentation to the board, she reflected on her accomplishments over that period of time — which include turning around the agency’s finances and reputation; piloting prison re-entry and rent assistance ​“term limit” programs; and taking on advocacy work around local housing policy. During DuBois-Walton’s tenure, Elm City Communities has redeveloped numerous housing complexes in disrepair through its non-profit divisions. The agency has lately begun acquiring and developing new properties, including the former New Haven Clock Factory, the former Church Street South apartments, and even a development in Branford.“We were once financially troubled and under HUD [federal Department of Housing and Urban Development] watch,” DuBois-Walton told the board. ​“No more.”After the meeting, she pointed to one memory from her time at the Housing Authority that brings her particular pride: working to tear down a fence separating public housing units in West Rock from suburban Hamden homes. Hamden residents close to the fence fiercely opposed its removal because they said they felt unsafe living near the public housing tenants without a physical barrier separating the neighborhood. But the Housing Authority decided to tear the fence down anyway in 2014. ​“I will forever be proud to have been a part of that,” she said.Each day, she said, was about practicing the principle that ​“people have value, and that has nothing to do with what’s in their bank account.”