With the McKinney-Vento Awards coming up tomorrow night, this is the final post in a series on our honorees and distinguished guests.
Shaun Donovan became the 15th United States Secretary for Housing and Urban Development on January 26, 2009. Believing that homes are the foundation for safe neighborhoods, successful schools, strong families and solid businesses, Donovan has dedicated his career to ensuring access to affordable, quality housing for all Americans.
As the HUD secretary, Donovan chairs the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness which, in June, released Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.
Donovan has served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). He also implemented HPD’s New Housing Marketplace Plan, the largest municipal affordable housing plan in this nation’s history, which planned to build and preserve 165,000 affordable homes. His work at HPD also included involvement with the New York City Acquisition Fund, an award-winning collaboration with banks and organizations to finance affordable housing, an innovative zoning program, a supportive housing plan, and creation of the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, an early response to the foreclosure crisis.
Prior to his service as commissioner of HPD, Donovan worked on financing affordable housing in the private sector and was a visiting scholar at New York University researching the preservation of federally-assisted housing. Donovan also worked as a consultant to the Millennial Housing Commission, strategizing ways to increase the production of multifamily housing. Created by the United States Congress, the commission sought to discover ways to expand housing opportunities nationally.
Donovan returns to HUD, where he previously served during the Clinton administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing. During that time he administered housing programs that helped 1.7 million families gain access to affordable housing. He also served as acting FHA Commissioner during the transition between the Clinton and Bush Administrations.
Prior to this first service at HUD, Donovan worked at the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) in New York City, a non-profit organization dedicated to lending and development for affordable housing. Donovan has also written on housing policy at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, as well as worked as an architect.
We hope you’ll join us when Secretary Donovan delivers his address on “Ending Homelessness in Our Time” at our 12th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards tomorrow, October 14, which begins at 6 p.m. Barbara Ehrenreich, Dechert LLP, the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, and the formerly homeless Elzer family will be honored at the event.
Click here for more information. Contact Whitney Gent for more information.