Donovan at HUD

Hopefully, the appointment of Shaun Donovan as the new head of Housing and Urban Development will be a great help as the Obama Administration responds to the housing crisis at the agency actually in charge of housing.  One housing expert I corresponded with yesterday noted how startling it is that we’ve not yet heard a word about responding to the crisis from the current Administration’s HUD chief.

Donovan seems to have the background and expertise to address the need for housing programs that will alleviate the housing nightmare now existing in low-income neighborhoods across the country.  He gets high marks from those who have dealt with him, not just for his work in New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, but also for correctly forecasting the current collapse of housing values nationally.  

Let's hope Donovan both turns out to be as effective as his supporters believe he can be— and also that he’s politically savvy enough to outmaneuver the cynical budget nay-sayers who will oppose investing in more far-sighted housing solutions than the marketplace has offered us this decade.