WASHINGTON — The man President Bush chose to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development assured senators yesterday that he’ll use his limited time there to help solve the housing crisis.

“I’m a firm believer that we can get a lot done in eight months,” Steven Preston told the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

Mr. Preston, currently head of the Small Business Administration, was nominated to replace the previous HUD secretary, Alphonso Jackson, who resigned in March amid a criminal investigation and allegations of political favoritism.

Mr. Bush’s term ends in January, and his Cabinet secretaries likely will leave with him.

“If confirmed, you will only be in office a short time,” the committee chairman, Christopher Dodd, a Democrat of Connecticut, noted. “But I urge that your first order of business be to begin to clean up and restore confidence in HUD among employees and the American public.”

Mr. Preston also will be at the center of effects to help Americans fight record high foreclosures due to rising interest rates, among other things.