Radio Address of President-Elect Barack Obama
Announcement of the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development
Saturday,
December 13, 2008
Good
morning.
Earlier
this week, we learned that the number of Americans filing their first
claim for unemployment insurance rose to a nearly 30-year high. This
news reflects the pain that's been rippling across this entire economy. Jobs are being cut.
Wages are being slashed. Credit is tight and people can't get loans. In
cities and towns all across this country, families enter a holiday
season with unease and uncertainty.
To
end this economic crisis, we must end the mortgage crisis where it
began. This all started when Americans took out mortgages they couldn't
afford. Some were reckless, aware of the risks they were accepting, but
many were innocent, tricked by lenders out to make a quick buck. With
banks creating securities they could not value, and regulators looking
the other way, the problem began infecting the whole economy, leading
to the crisis we're now facing.
One
in ten families who owns a home is now in some form of distress, the
most ever recorded. This is deeply troubling. It not only shakes the
foundation of our economy, but the foundation of the American Dream.
There is nothing more fundamental than having a home to call your own.
It's not just a place to live or raise your kids or return after a hard
day's work – it's the cornerstone of a family's financial security.
To
stem the rising tide of foreclosures and strengthen our economy, I've
asked my economic team to develop a bold plan that will dramatically
increase the number of families who can stay in their homes. But this
plan will only work with a comprehensive, coordinated federal effort to
make it a reality. We need every part of our government working
together – from the Treasury Department to the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, the agency that protects the money you've put in
the bank. And few will be more essential to this effort than the
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
From
providing shelter to those displaced by Katrina to giving help to those
facing the loss of a home to revitalizing our cities and communities,
HUD's role has never been more important. Since its founding, HUD has
been dedicated to tearing down barriers in access to affordable housing
– in an effort to make America more equal and more just. Too often,
these efforts have had mixed results.
That
is why we can't keep doing things the old Washington way. We can't keep
throwing money at the problem, hoping for a different result. We need
to approach the old challenge of affordable housing with new energy,
new ideas, and a new, efficient style of leadership. We need to
understand that the old ways of looking at our cities just won't do.
That means promoting cities as the backbone of regional growth by not
only solving the problems in our cities, but seizing the opportunities
in our growing suburbs, exurbs, and metropolitan areas. No one knows
this better than the outstanding public servant I am announcing today
as our next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development – Shaun Donovan.
As
Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development in New York City,
Shaun has led the effort to create the largest housing plan in the
nation, helping hundreds of thousands of our citizens buy or rent their
homes. Prior to joining Mayor Bloomberg's administration, Shaun worked
both in business, where he was responsible for affordable housing
investments, and at one of our nation's top universities, where he
researched and wrote about housing issues. This appointment represents
something of a homecoming for Shaun, who worked at HUD in the Clinton
administration, leading an effort to help make housing affordable for
nearly two million Americans. Trained as an architect, Shaun
understands housing down to how homes are designed, built, and wired.
With
experience that stretches from the public sector to the private sector
to academia, Shaun will bring to this important post fresh thinking,
unencumbered by old ideology and outdated ideas. He understands that we
need to move past the stale arguments that say low-income Americans
shouldn't even try to own a home or that our mortgage crisis is due
solely to a few greedy lenders. He knows that we can put the dream of
owning a home within reach for more families, so long as we're making
loans in the right way, and so long as those who buy a home are
prepared for the responsibilities of homeownership.
In
the end, expanding access to affordable housing isn't just about caring
for the least fortunate among us and strengthening our middle class –
it's about ending our housing mess, climbing out of our financial
crisis, and putting our economy on the path to long-term growth and
prosperity. And that is what Shaun and I will work to do together when
I am President of the United States.
Thank
you.
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