The Mass. Gaming Commission is gearing up to search for a new executive director, and whoever takes over for Karen Wells will walk into a job that has changed markedly since her tenure began about three and a half years ago.

Wells, who was the commission’s chief investigator for about seven years before ascending to the executive director post in January 2020, will step down effective July 14, the commission said last week. Commissioners are expected to discuss the process they will use to identify and hire a new executive director at forthcoming public meetings, officials said.

“Together this team created the infrastructure for a new state agency, opened three casinos, weathered a pandemic, and launched the new legal sports wagering industry,” Wells said. “Today the agency’s core responsibilities are operating smoothly, and I have every confidence our team will continue the great work we have done together over the years.”

U.S. housing starts unexpectedly surged in May by the most since 2016 and applications to build increased, suggesting residential construction is on track to help fuel economic growth.

Beginning home construction jumped 21.7% to a 1.63 million annualized rate, the fastest pace in more than a year, according to government data released Tuesday. The pace exceeded all projections in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Single-family homebuilding rose 18.5% to an 11-month high.

Applications to build, a proxy for future construction, climbed 5.2% to an annualized rate of 1.49 million units. Permits for one-family dwellings increased.

The figures corroborate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments last week that the housing market has shown signs of stabilizing.