NEW YORK – New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday named a former Federal Emergency Management Agency official to lead the city’s housing recovery effort after superstorm Sandy left tens of thousands of local residents homeless from flood damage or placed in shelters due to lack of power, water and heat.

Bloomberg said Brad Gair would start leading that effort immediately. Gair has worked on post-disaster housing initiatives following Hurricane Katrina and other catastrophes.

“Post-disaster housing is usually one of the most complex and challenging to be dealt with in catastrophic disasters like this,” Gair said at a news conference. “We know it will take a while. It will be difficult. There will be bumps along the road. But we believe that we have the resources to get this done. … We cannot call our recovery complete until every New Yorker has a place to call home again.”

(Reporting by Dan Burns; Editing by Will Dunham)