Jen Hylton Carpenter is the director of the policy division in the Office of Disaster Recovery (ODR) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). ODR manages funds allocated from Congress for long-term disaster recovery, which includes funds for the restoration of infrastructure and housing, economic revitalization, and mitigation activities. Carpenter is responsible for creating and developing policy, requirements, and guidance governing Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery and Mitigation grant funds totaling over $99 billion.
Previously, Carpenter was the operations coordinator for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) team in the Office of Community Planning & Development at HUD. She handled logistics and compliance issues, developed NSP policy and guidance documents, and managed several NSP grants.
Carpenter holds a Master of Public Affairs and a Master of Arts from Indiana University – Bloomington’s O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and a bachelor's in urban affairs and economics from Saint Louis University. She also served two years as a community development volunteer in Peace Corps Ukraine.