Peter Dwars, former housing authority chief, dies

Peter Dwars was responsible for creating and providing below-market financing for about 30,000 housing units across the state for low-income and moderate-income families during his time as head of the Illinois Housing Development Authority.

Dwars was skilled both in politics and communications, colleagues said, and adept at using his knowledge to advise three governors on housing finance matters and to explain complex concepts to lawmakers.

“Peter was long recognized as the guru of bond financing and other innovations in housing finance not only in Illinois, but nationwide by governors, mayors and other elected officials, bond attorneys, bankers and others over many years,” said Peter Lennon, who twice served alongside Dwars as the Illinois Housing Authority’s deputy director.

Dwars, 74, died of complications from pancreatic cancer on July 1, said his wife of 42 years, Gail Beesen-Dwars. He was a resident of Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.

Born in Hammond, Indiana, Dwars received  a bachelor’s degree in marketing and economics in 1971 from Indiana University in Bloomington. He managed a Jewel grocery store for a time before earning a Master of Business Administration from Loyola University Chicago in 1972.

Dwars joined the staff of IHDA, a quasi-independent state agency formed in the late 1960s as a way to find solutions for the housing shortage for low- and middle-income families in the state.

The authority issues tax-exempt bonds that enable it to provide below market rate financing for housing, and it also administers state and federal funding programs to promote new construction and major renovations of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families as well as for the elderly and disabled.

Dwars held several roles at the agency, including in marketing and as head of its mortgage credit department. He became the authority’s deputy director in 1977 and at various times served as acting executive director. In 1988, Dwars was appointed the agency’s executive director.

“Pete not only excelled at public finance, but he also proved himself to be exceptional at defining public policy, and actually caring about the people we were charged to serve,” said James W. Kiley, who preceded Dwars as IHDA’s executive director.

Former IHDA general counsel John Glennon said that Dwars was involved with “almost every single low-income and affordable housing program we take for granted today.”

As executive director, Dwars directed all IHDA operations, including a $1.1 billion multifamily rental housing program, $43 million in federal program funds and nearly $40 million in low-income tax credits. He was responsible for managing the agency’s $10.6 million annual budget at the time, funded entirely from its own activities.

Dwars worked with U.S. House and Senate committees to permanently extend federal mortgage revenue bond and low-income housing tax credit programs, and with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to rewrite regulations for its Section 8 rental subsidy program.

“At the time, none of those programs were universally acceptable for demographic, racial discrimination and real estate valuation reasons,” Glennon said of the various low-income and affordable housing programs that Dwars had helped craft. “Pete worked both sides of the aisle and suburban and city legislators to get those programs into operation. And something Pete never got credit for was his commitment to find financing for minority real estate developers when no private lenders would loan money to them.”

Dwars kept up on new concepts in the rapidly evolving field, Glennon said.

“Whenever there was a big meeting coming up, on a new concept like tax credits or accelerated depreciation or Section 8 income limits, you would almost always find Peter at 7 or 8 p.m. back in the corner of his office, probably sneaking a Parliament cigarette, with a stack of reading materials 6 inches high,” Glennon said. “He would not walk into that meeting the next day unless he was going to be the best-prepared fellow in the room. And he always was.”

In 1994, Dwars left IHDA to join CS First Boston as vice president of investment banking operations for infrastructure financing in the Midwest. The following year, CS First Boston exited the municipal bond field, and Dwars soon was hired by Alex. Brown & Sons,  as a vice president overseeing housing and infrastructure financing for state, county and local governments.

In 1996, Dwars joined commercial real estate firm Jos. Cacciatore & Co. as a vice president of business development.

Dwars rejoined IHDA as executive director in 2000. By then, its staff had grown to 200 employees and it had a $1 billion investment portfolio.

Mary Kenney was a secretary at IHDA when Dwars encouraged her to go to law school. She did and in his second tour of duty he hired her as the agency’s general counsel. She was IHDA’s executive director from 2011 to 2015.

“The citizens of Chicago and Illinois owe Peter a great debt,” Kenney said. “He created thousands of new units of affordable rental housing — as well as thousands of new homeowners through his creative methods of financing deals and mortgages.”

After leaving IHDA for good in 2003, Dwars handled business development at Alliant Asset Management, which is a firm that invests in tax-advantaged real estate developments. He retired from Alliant in 2014.

In addition to his wife, Dwars is survived by his 101-year-old mother, Harriet; a sister, Sue Ann; and a brother, Thomas.

A funeral service was held.

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.