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What’s in Store for the New HUD Secretary?

Posted by: Judy Chang

10 April 2009 - 7:00am

Shaun Donovan wants HUD to catalyze shifts in American urban planning, one community at a time. A look at the optimistic HUD secretary, who has been given the task of fixing the housing market—and making over a broken government agency.

"He wants to give consumers as much information about future utility bills as they could learn about a car's fuel efficiency. He's teaming up with Energy Secretary Steven Chu to figure out how residential carbon emissions--which account for a fifth of such output in the U.S.--can be curbed. Still, he says, carbon bigfoots need not fret. 'This isn't about the federal government telling people how to live.'

For now, his ambitious designs will have to wait.

As the new HUD chieftain, Donovan is at the center of the government's efforts to revive the ailing housing market. Working with fellow technocrat Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other regulators, he helped shape the president's recently launched $275 billion mortgage plan to curb foreclosures. Unlike his predecessors, Donovan has a seat at frequent White House economic round tables alongside Geithner and economic guru Larry Summers."

Full Story: Can This Man Fix The Housing Market?
Source: Forbes, April 8, 2009
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In recent years, some public officials and civic leaders have begun to question the existing models for dealing with homelessness, arguing that the persistence of the problem shows that what has been done up until now isn't working.
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