The city is undertaking a massive public-private effort to build affordable housing. It's also thinking of changing its most popular development incentive. Shaun Donovan tells how one may affect the other.

Shaun Donovan, as commissioner of the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, heads the nation's largest municipal developer of affordable housing, a charge that includes his boss' ambitious plans.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to develop or preserve as many as 165,000 affordable housing units. Through partnerships with private developers and targeted eminent domain, Donovan's department hopes to coordinate this effort so it's completed within 10 years. It's the sort of massive public-private housing effort not seen in the city since at least the 1980s.

In a recent podcast interview with The Real Deal, Donovan shared his strategy. He also talked at length about the popular 421a tax incentive for residential development, an incentive the city is considering altering. Donovan said the city has no plans to end the 421a, but that its use by developers in areas like Lower Manhattan could be curtailed.

To listen to the entire interview, click one of the links below.