CHICAGO — In naming his choice for housing secretary, President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday rounded out his economic team and gave new prominence to the mortgage crisis that has dragged the country into a recession.
The selection of Shaun Donovan as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development puts the New York City housing commissioner at the forefront of one of the more nettlesome economic challenges confronting the new administration — the soaring foreclosures that are threatening homeownership nationwide.
The Federal Reserve estimates that lenders are on track to initiate 2.25 million foreclosures this year, more than double the annual pace before the crisis set in. What’s more, falling housing values and a plunging stock market have contributed to $2.8 trillion in lost household wealth in the third quarter.
Donovan joins a team led by Tim Geithner, Obama’s nominee for Treasury secretary, and Larry Summers, who will be chairman of Obama’s National Economic Council. Obama has his team working on an ambitious economic recovery plan that includes saving or creating 2.5 million jobs over the next two years.
Stemming foreclosures and stabilizing the battered housing market will be daunting tasks that have already bedeviled Congress and the Bush administration.
“We need to approach the old challenge of affordable housing with new energy, new ideas and a new, efficient style of leadership,” Obama said upon naming Donovan during his Saturday radio address. “We need to understand that the old ways of looking at our cities just won’t do.”
Donovan, head of New York’s Housing Preservation and Development Department, is a former Clinton administration HUD official with a national reputation for curtailing low-income foreclosures, developing affordable housing and managing the nation’s largest housing plan.
Conrad Egan, president of the nonpartisan National Housing Conference, said Obama’s selection of Donovan signals that he recognizes HUD can play a big role in the economic recovery.
Shaun Donovan
Age: 42; born Jan. 24, 1966; New York
Experience: Commissioner, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, March 2004-present; director, Prudential Mortgage Capital Co.’s FHA lending and affordable housing initiatives, July 2002-March 2004; visiting scholar, New York University, June 2001-July 2002; consultant, Millennial Housing Commission, June 2001 July 2002; deputy assistant secretary for multifamily housing at HUD, March 2000-March 2001; special assistant at HUD, October 1998-March 2000.
Education: B.A. in engineering, Harvard University, 1987; M.A. in architecture, Harvard University, 1995; M.P.A., Harvard University, 1995.
Family: Wife, Liza Gilbert; two sons.
Quote: “Prevention counseling, legal services and education can help keep families in their homes. A home is far too valuable for people to lose.” — statement on The Center for New York City Neighborhoods receiving $500,000 grant, June 24, 2008
