"This appointment represents something of a homecoming for Shaun, who worked at HUD in the Clinton administration" as deputy assistant secretary for multifamily housing, said Obama in his weekly radio address Saturday. Donovan also served as acting commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration during the transition from Clinton to the Bush administration. "Trained as an architect, Shaun understands housing down to how homes are designed, built, and wired."

Donovan's career spans both the public and private sectors. Before joining the Clinton administration, he was a manager of FHA loans and affordable housing investments at Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. Early in his career, he worked at the nonprofit Community Preservation Corp. based here. As HPD's commissioner, he oversees the Bloomberg administration's New Housing Marketplace Plan, a program intended to create 165,000 affordable housing units by 2013. The program passed the halfway mark in September.

In a statement, Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the Donovan nomination is "a great indication of how serious President-elect Obama is about developing bold new solutions for our nation's cities and towns." Bloomberg calls Donovan's approach "as practical as it is passionate--he has moved our focus beyond the old public sector-driven solutions by giving the starring role to the private and nonprofit sectors. He put his considerable intellect to work in finding creative new ways to help private and nonprofit developers move further into the affordable housing arena." He adds that Donovan "turned upside down the usual excuses for failing to help working families find affordable housing and he has shown that we can do more with less--especially in these difficult times."