Boston Housing Authority chief Sandra Henriquez is President Barack Obama’s pick for a top housing post.  Obama on Friday afternoon announced he intends to nominate Henriquez to the position of assistant secretary for public and Indian housing. 

Henriquez has been the city authority’s chief executive officer since April 1996.  She also worked there from 1977 until 1983, when she joined Maloney Properties, a real estate management firm specializing in resident-controlled and non-profit housing. Henriquez is the immediate past chair of the Board of Directors of the YWCA Boston,  an honorary trustee of the New England Baptist Hospital, and a director of the Massachusetts-based Citizens Housing and Planning Association. She is the mother of Carlos Henriquez, who is a candidate for city council in district seven this year.