Allan Appel Photo
Hannah Sokal-Holmes with a photo of her children.
Hannah Sokal-Holmes is proud of the hundreds of units of public housing that she has helped redesign and modernize over more than two decades with the Housing Authority of New Haven.
Her retirement after 22 years was announced Tuesday afternoon at the regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH), AKA Elm City Communities.
Sokal-Holmes remembers driving through town after moving here 40 years ago when she began in the profession. “I was shocked,” she recalled, that sections of town looked “like burned out sections of the Bronx.”
“At Elm City Communities we’ve truly changed the city,” she said
Sokal-Holmes has reviewed early-stage design drawings, including for electrical and plumbing features, for hundreds of units of public housing that have helped bring about that change in neighborhoods throughout the city. She has engaged in ongoing review and coordination with the architects and trades people throughout modernization projects.
She began at HANH as a temp in 2001, then became a design manager the following year. Her current job title is vice president for planning and modernization.
“Can you keep what’s there? What needs to be repaired? And are we satisfied?” is the way she put the questions that animate her design work.
“I’m thinking my contribution has been my knowledge of the buildings and communication with the teams to understand the buildings, an awareness of details. On a renovation project you need to understand what exists,” she said. That enables you to be “aware of weaknesses in design” and to address that in new designs.
Her first big projects included renovation of the former Ribbicoff Cottages (now Twin Brook) and redoing the roofs and much else at the post-World War Two era-built McConaughy Terrace development, both on the far west side of town.
A self-described workaholic who puts in 12-hour days, Sokal-Holmes recalled how the family bungalow-style homes at McConaughy used to have flat roofs, causing recurring problems. She supervised roof replacements and renovations and ongoing interior as well as exterior improvements.
“I’ve seen residents moved to tears of joy and surprise to be living in places that are clean, beautiful, and well maintained. That’s uplifting. I feel very grateful to have contributed to people of this city.” Her current position is expected to be folded into another existing position.
What’s next? Sokal-Holmes said she plans to take a break, enjoy spending more time with her grandkids and kids (a boy and two girls who have grown up to become a doctor, a lawyer, and a chief operating officer of a start-up business) and then ponder the next chapter.
And, of course, she has already joined the building committee of Westville Synagogue, where her family worships.
“Thank you,” HANH Board Chair William Kilpatrick told her, “for a job well done.”
You would never see a man posed in a photo for an article with his children. I found it strangely out of place.