Shaun Donovan, 55, is one candidate among many vying to succeed Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose second term comes to an end this year, but Donovan believes he alone is uniquely suited for the moment. The aftermath of a crisis is familiar territory for Donovan, whose career includes working for three U.S. presidents (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama), and the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Donovan says his tenure, should he win, would involve stabilizing a city rising from the throes of crisis, born from the ongoing pandemic that’s resulted in mass casualties, and crushed the local economy.
His days working as HPD commissioner under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, where he ran an agency that was still dealing with the catastrophic effects of the 9/11 attacks, readied him for his subsequent position with the Obama administration, where he was secretary for the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. In that role, he was tasked with — among other things — handling Superstorm Sandy’s destruction of coastal communities.
His pitch as a savior during times of crisis fits the same mold as rival Kathryn Garcia the former commissioner for the New York City Sanitation Department, though he also holds experience outside of New York City.
It was in the late 2000s when Donovan found himself in the middle of a national firestorm, handling the country's biggest housing crisis as HUD secretary under President Barack Obama, a position he held from 2009 through 2014. Later, as director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (2014-2017) he helped stave off the city’s Ebola virus outbreak that, he says, “didn’t become a pandemic that cost tens of thousands of New Yorkers their lives."
“Again and again, I have been trusted to lead through crisis. And no other candidate in this race has that experience in crisis that I do,” Donovan said.
Before he launched his career, Donovan—a lifelong New Yorker growing up in Manhattan’s Upper East Side—bore witness to other dark moments in New York City, notably the rise of a devastating heroin epidemic, homelessness, and the financial crisis of the 1970s that led to deep cutbacks.
“The South Bronx was burning,” Donovan recalled. “So many communities were crumbling to the ground. And it lit a fire in me to go to work on behalf of the city that I love. And so, I started volunteering in a homeless shelter in college.”
Not far from the Bronx, parts of Brooklyn had also burned, compelling Donovan to eventually work at Community Preservation Corporation, a nonprofit that funded the construction of 5,000 so-called Nehemiah homes, whose name is inspired by a 5th century Jewish leader who oversaw the reconstruction of Jerusalem’s city walls. The new Brooklyn homes created the kind of homeownership Donovan intends to place “front and center” if elected.
If there’s one theme that runs throughout Donovan’s career, it is his fixation on housing, serving as a dual strategy to wealth building and neighborhood sustainability. The work he did with the East Brooklyn Congregation helped build generational wealth for the thousands of families who were able to purchase a home, inspiring a core tenet to Donovan’s mayoral platform. It also forged the kind of community Donovan envisions for New York City.
“The wealth that they've built in those homes has not only changed their lives, it's changed their children's lives, their lives for generations,” Donovan said. “I believe, and I think all of the evidence is that the single biggest disparity along racial and ethnic lines in our city for opportunity is wealth building.”
This dovetails with one of Donovan’s signature plans, dubbed 15-minute neighborhoods, in which he aims to place every New Yorker within walking distance from a school, public transportation, a park, and fresh food grocer. The concept was beta tested at Via Verde, a subsidized housing development in the South Bronx that opened in 2011, two years after Donovan left HPD. Five years before, Donovan helped conceive the idea that would become Via Verde, an eco-friendly property that responded to the health needs of a fragile neighborhood. It’s also within minutes of the kinds amenities that fall under his plan.
In some ways, Donovan’s idea is emblematic of his comfort zone as a policy wonk rather than a politician, crafting ideas on behalf of a boss and veering away from politics. It’s why one former commissioner for an agency in the Bloomberg administration, who requested anonymity to avoid any conflicts with candidates, characterized Donovan as a technocrat tasked with removing the kinks out of bureaucracy.
“He wanted to do the work of government, not the politics,” the former commissioner said of Donovan. “In a way he's kind of saying 'I'll do the politics so I can do the work' and not the other way around. Other people like do the work so they can do the politics and figure out when can I learn from it? And my sense of Shaun is that his career has built toward this moment.”
But in the city’s current zeitgeist, where inequality stands at the center of this mayoral run, Donovan’s background as an upper class New Yorker could be seen as a detriment to his campaign. Separating himself from his wealth has proven to be difficult — Donovan’s father, a tech entrepreneur, recently pumped $1 million into a super PAC formed specifically for his son. Whether intentional or not, the PAC, called New Start NYC, underscored Donovan’s background as an upper class New Yorker. Donovan grew up attending the exclusive Dalton private schoolon the Upper East Side before enrolling in Harvard University.
Donovan’s spokesperson, Yuridia Peña, called the PAC “independent of our campaign.” Candidates are barred from receiving funds and directly coordinating with super PACs.
“Shaun is the only candidate with proven national and local leadership in tackling a multitude of crises throughout his career as a public servant and bringing quality and affordable housing and homeownership to communities across the country and right here in New York City,” Peña said in a statement. “We are proud of the diverse support we are building who believe in Shaun’s vision to repair, rebuild and reimagine a city that works for everyone.”
In spite of his money, Donovan has been known to remain front and center during crisis. During the early days of the pandemic, Donovan created the Common Table initiative that helped feed 40,000 families during across the city. He met Johanna Salazar, an organizer with World Central Kitchen, who found Donovan to be the kind of manager to dig into a problem. It was the case for when she met up with Donovan in the South Bronx to go through the logistics of distributing the food.
"I found it really interesting that he was actually on the ground, meeting people talking to people like he met us at restaurants and he wanted to hear the stories and he really wanted to talk directly to people,” Salazar recalled when meeting him. “To me, he's the type of person [where] he sees a need he rolls up his sleeves, and he leads.”
