MassHousing’s David Keene has been elected to serve a one-year term as president on the National Leased Housing Association (NLHA) board of directors.

Keene, the agency’s chief preservation officer, will assist the NLHA in its mission of providing its members with information and advocacy concerning low- and moderate-income rental housing. He has served on the NLHA board of directors since 2014.

“As president of the National Leased Housing Association, David Keene will continue NLHA’s work to ensure sufficient funding for assisted housing programs and he will focus on expanding the bipartisan support for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program,” NLHA Executive Director Denise B. Muha said in a statement.

Keene stated that the LIHTC program is vital for the production and preservation of affordable housing. “Through its unique public-private investor partnership, the LIHTC program has successfully provided scarce housing financing resources for more than 30 years, but it can be improved to further fill the critical need for affordable housing in this country,” Keene said in a statement.

NLHA supports the bipartisan Cantwell-Hatch bill in the Senate (S. 548) that would expand the LIHTC program by 50 percent and Keene will continue to leverage NLHA’s strong industry relationships to push for enactment of this legislation.

Keene has been at MassHousing for 30 years. During that time, he has overseen more than $1 billion in refinancing for rental housing, tax credit recapitalizations and other loan transactions, as well as more than $500 million in annual Section 8 subsidies. He has developed several national award-winning programs, including those for Section 8 Proactive Preservation, Section 202 refinancing, Preservation Vouchers for state-assisted housing, Section 8 restructurings and Expiring Use Friendly Prepayments.

“David Keene is a nationally recognized expert in state and federal programs involving subsidized rental housing and the financing of affordable housing,’’ MassHousing Executive Director Tim Sullivan said in a statement. “The NLHA has made an excellent choice in electing David as its President and his expertise and experience will benefit thousands of people across the country who rely on low and moderate-income housing.”

Keene also serves on the board of the National Housing Conference and as secretary on the board of the Institute for Responsible Housing Preservation in Washington.