Obama Taps Donovan for HUD

NEW YORK CITY-President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday named Shaun Donovan, commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, as his nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Commissioner of HPD since 2004, Donovan must be confirmed for the cabinet-level post by Congress.

“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.”