Shaun Donovan, President-elect Barack Obama ’s choice to direct federal housing programs, on Tuesday promised a more aggressive and far-reaching effort to ease the mortgage crisis and promote affordable housing.

At his confirmation hearing, Donovan brainstormed with members of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on strategies for reinvigorating the Department of Housing and Urban Development so it can contribute more to easing the foreclosure crisis at the center of current economic recession.

“Surprisingly – and unfortunately, in my opinion – HUD has not played a central role in addressing the housing crisis,” said committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd , D-Conn. “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.”

Donovan is New York City’s housing commissioner, a position he has held since 2004. Members of both parties praised his qualifications to lead HUD.

“He has seen the housing universe from all sides,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer , D-N.Y. who introduced Donovan to the committee.

During his tenure in New York, Donovan has focused on preserving or constructing housing units for 500,000 low- and moderate-income city residents. Earlier in his career, he ran Federal Housing Administration lending programs for the Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., served as deputy assistant HUD secretary for multifamily housing in the Clinton administration and worked for housing non-profits in New York City.

Democrats are pressing the incoming Obama administration to spend a portion of the second $350 billion of the financial industry bailout program on direct aid to homeowners, in an effort to stem foreclosures by reducing homeowners’ mortgage debts.

But some senators urged caution.

“If we don’t deconstruct what went wrong and how to fix it, we’ll never fix it, will we?” said ranking Republican Richard C. Shelby , R-Ala.

If confirmed as expected, Donovan will inherit a department that has been pushed to the periphery of housing considerations until very recently. But in the past few months, the FHA has been thrust into a more extensive role as the government struggles to stem the housing downward spiral that focused most acutely on private lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Other Issues

But while the foreclosure crisis promises to be at the center of Donovan’s agenda, senators had other housing concerns as well that they called upon Donovan to address.

Sen. Robert Menendez , D-N.J., asked Donovan about his plans to address discrimination and segregation in housing, while Dodd asked the secretary-designate about his plans to coordinate housing with transportation policy.