[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 13 (Thursday, January 22, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S792-S793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      NOMINATION OF SHAUN DONOVAN

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, today we are considering the nomination of 
Mr. Shaun Donovan, Commissioner of the New York City Department of 
Housing Preservation and Development to become the Secretary of the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD.
  Mr. Donovan, has been nominated for a job fraught with significant 
challenges yet, for that very reason, imbued with great opportunities.
  For the past 3 or 4 years, the country has been facing a growing 
housing

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problem that had its origins in the scourge of predatory lending that 
has resulted in record high foreclosure rates.
  This housing crisis has been a primary cause of the deepening 
recession to which none of us are immune. Across the country, between 
9,000 and 10,000 homeowners face foreclosure every day. Foreclosures in 
my State were up over 71 percent since last year, and it is expected 
that we will have more than 13,000 subprime foreclosures in the next 
two years. Nationwide, cities such as Bridgeport, which had 
inordinately high rates of subprime loans, are struggling to keep 
themselves afloat as those loans reset one-by-one and families find 
themselves with nowhere to turn.
  I recently met with leaders in my State where I heard about the toll 
this crisis is taking on our minority communities. Some say this crisis 
will result in a net loss in homeownership rates for African Americans, 
wiping out a generation of wealth, gains and opportunities.
  But let there be no doubt that this crisis today affects every 
American in one way or another. In all, by some counts, we can expect 
some 8 million homes to go into foreclosure absent some form of 
additional action.
  Unfortunately, the previous administration was slow to acknowledge 
the housing problem, and when it finally did, timid in its response. 
Even as we witnessed foreclosures tear apart neighborhoods and wreak 
havoc upon our economy, the Administration refused to use the authority 
or funds we gave it in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to 
tackle the foreclosure crisis head on--despite the Congress's crystal 
clear intent in writing that law.
  Surprisingly--and unfortunately, in my opinion--HUD has not played a 
central role in addressing the housing crisis. Frankly, it has been, to 
quote National Journal, ``at best, a second string player . . .'' 
following in the wake of other government departments with far less 
expertise in housing than the professionals at HUD (January 10, 2009).
  Indeed, as the cover page of CQ Weekly says, ``The housing crisis 
remains at the core of the economy's woes . . .'' (January 12, 2009).
  Put simply, we cannot address our economic crisis until we address 
the underlying housing crisis.
  And to do that, we need an active, aggressive, and well-run HUD with 
leadership that is confident in its mission and unafraid to act. As 
President Obama has himself said, ``HUD's role has never been more 
important.''
  Unfortunately, HUD has been mismanaged and ridden with scandal in the 
last several years. Let me be clear that these problems did not arise 
under the able leadership of our colleague, then-Secretary Martinez. I 
would also say that in recent weeks, Secretary Preston has made some 
improvements.
  But fundamentally, HUD has been left adrift at a time when bold 
leadership and a clear direction were never more important.
  Just a week or two ago, we learned about the Wrights--a middle-class 
family in Windsor, Connecticut in danger of losing their home. Like 
thousands of families across the country, the Wrights were lured into a 
mortgage they were assured they could afford but couldn't--not because 
they acted irresponsibly but because they became pregnant with their 
second child, and Mrs. Wright ran out of the paid sick time she was 
afforded as a teacher.
  This is the kind of story being repeated in every community across 
America today. With the right leadership, I believe HUD can be an 
effective partner in helping families like the Wrights. That is the 
opportunity Mr. Donovan has--to restore HUD as a leading voice in 
addressing the crisis facing our country today.
  I would say to my colleagues that Mr. Donovan is the most experienced 
nominee for HUD secretary that Senate has considered in my long 
experience. In addition to his degrees in architecture and public 
administration from Harvard, Mr. Donovan has run the multifamily 
program at the Federal Housing Administration and was, for a time, the 
Acting Housing Commissioner. He has worked in the private nonprofit 
sector as a housing developer and he has worked as a managing director 
of a large, multi-family mortgage company.
  Since 2004, Mr. Donovan has been the commissioner of New York City's 
Department of Housing Preservation and Development. In that role, he 
managed 2,800 employees and helped develop and manage Mayor Bloomberg's 
``New Housing Marketplace Plan,'' one of the most ambitious local 
housing plans in the nation. The $7.5 billion plan calls for the 
creation or preservation of 165,000 units of affordable housing, about 
half of which has been accomplished to date.
  Beyond the statistics and the numbers that so dramatically underscore 
Mr. Donovan's accomplishments, I want to welcome him for the kind of 
leadership and vision I am confident he will bring to the Department at 
a time when such leadership is needed so desperately.
  For example, as early as 2004, long before most of the rest of the 
country was focused on the subprime crisis and the foreclosures they 
would lead to, Mr. Donovan told a Newsday reporter that he was worried 
about the coming ``flood of foreclosures'' and the impact it would have 
on homeowners and neighborhoods.
  Mr. Donovan sees the role of HUD as being more than a caretaker for 
physical housing structures, or as a mortgage insurance company. He 
understands the danger of stove-piping within this arena, and sees HUD 
as the Federal Government's primary tool to help build communities--an 
agency that helps to provide housing opportunities for homeowners and 
for renters along a spectrum of incomes and ages. He understands the 
need to coordinate housing with transportation, including public 
transportation and transit, to improve access to jobs and other 
economic opportunities--and we need someone with that vision at the 
helm.
  Finally, Mr. Donovan is a man of the utmost integrity who has shown a 
proven ability to work constructively with all interested parties. His 
nomination is being supported, enthusiastically, I want to add, by a 
wide variety of housing groups, from the Realtors, to the Homebuilders, 
to the Low Income Housing Coalition, to many nonprofit organizations 
and many, many others.
  I want to express my thanks to Mr. Donovan for the leadership he will 
bring to this critically important department and, more importantly, 
the hope he will offer to millions of families at this uncertain 
moment.
  I urge my colleagues to support the nomination of Mr. Donovan to be 
Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.