President Barack Obama nominated Ron Sims on Monday to be deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"Ron's track record as an innovative leader with an exciting vision for the future of our nation's communities makes him the perfect deputy-secretary candidate as we tackle the nation's housing crisis amidst the biggest economic downturn in decades," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

Sims is the county executive of King County, Wash. His role as deputy secretary of HUD would leave him in charge of the agency's staff of 8,500; its nearly $39 billion annual operating budget; and daily operations.

Housing regulators are hopeful the third-term county executive's experience with overseeing a metropolitan area with 1.8 million residents and 39 cities, including Seattle, could assist with stabilizing the housing sector.

Donovan, at his Senate confirmation hearing in January, said HUD needs to work with the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), to stabilize the housing markets.

"Together, we will work with President Obama to ensure HUD is doing all it can to help the nation's communities recover from today's economic realities and to better position them for the future," Donovan said in a prepared statement on Sims' nomination.

-By Darrell A. Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6684; darrell.hughes@dowjones.com

-By Jessica Holzer, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9228; jessica.holzer@dowjones.com

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