Obama's New HUD Secretary: "A Crisis Is A Terrible Thing To Waste"

by Shannon Moriarty · 2008-12-15 11:09:00 UTC
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President-elect Obama announced his choice for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development post this weekend. And the winner is... New York City Housing Commissioner Shaun Donovan! [cheers & applause]

If confirmed, Donovan will inherit the worst housing crisis in decades, a rapidly increasing homeless population, and an unstable housing market. Um, welcome to Washington?

In all seriousness, this choice is a bit of a surprise. Previously, Donovan's name had only been mentioned only as a long-shot. Many pundits thought Obama would go for a qualified minority housing leader, as the past three HUD Secretary have been of Latino or African-American descent. 

So what do housing and homelessness advocates think of this choice? They like him... a lot. He's qualified, committed to creating affordable housing, and understands that the housing crisis engulfing our nation also has a silver lining. Here's an excerpt from his remarks at a city hall briefing in July (from Adam Kushner's blog): 

I think there is an opportunity, given the subprime crisis. A mentor of mine that I worked for in my first government job in Washington said, "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste." In fact, we have an opportunity, despite the terrible things that are happening in neighborhoods because of the subprime crisis, to really reframe the housing challenges, nationally, as a result of what we've seen over the last few years. Housing is on the national agenda again maybe for the first time in a generation. We have an opportunity, I think, to really utilize that to reframe the issue.

Kudos to President-elect Obama for an excellent choice.

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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