Politics
Chicago Housing Authority CEO Tracey Scott Steps Down Amid Growing Criticism
Video: The WTTW News Spotlight Politics team on Chicago Housing Authority CEO Tracey Scott stepping down and more of the week’s top stories. (Produced by Andrea Guthmann)
Chicago Housing Authority CEO Tracey Scott said Monday she will step down as the chief executive of the third largest public housing agency in the nation, amid growing criticism that the CHA has not done enough to address the city’s affordable housing shortage.
Scott, who earned $300,000 a year, leaves the agency on Friday after more than four and a half years. Angela Hurlock, the chair of the CHA Board of Commissioners, will serve as the agency’s interim CEO, while a search for a permanent leader takes place, according to a statement from the agency.
“Housing serves as a foundation that helps people unlock opportunities,” Scott said in the statement released by the agency. “Over the past four years at CHA, I’ve focused on encouraging innovation to expand and improve housing in strong communities, while supporting families and seniors in reaching their goals. I am proud of the accomplishments of an incredible CHA team, and I know their commitment and passion for our residents will continue to carry the mission forward.”
Scott was appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot days before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation and after working for the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority and the Atlanta Housing Authority. Although Lightfoot said Scott would implement her administration’s “ambitious agenda to transform our city’s economic landscape,” those changes never materialized.
A spokesperson for Johnson declined to comment about the change of leadership at the CHA. It was unclear Monday afternoon whether the mayor requested Scott’s resignation or if Scott left on her own.
In the agency’s statement, Johnson said he was grateful for Scott’s steadfast leadership.
“My administration will continue to partner closely with the agency to realize my vision of a vibrant city where every resident has access to safe, quality affordable housing,” Johnson said.
The CHA provides more than 65,000 low-income households with public housing, rental vouchers and homeownership programs.
Scott inherited the CHA’s two-decade-old Plan for Transformation, which promised to remake public housing in Chicago by replacing the high-rise projects knocked down by former Mayor Richard M. Daley for becoming magnets for violent crime that preyed on poor and lower-income Chicagoans.
Those buildings were supposed to be replaced with mixed-income apartment complexes, but all of those units have yet to be built, preventing residents from returning to the neighborhoods they called home. During Scott’s tenure, 3,000 new mixed-income units were built on CHA land and in private developments across the city, a CHA spokesperson said.
Chicago Housing Authority CEO Tracey Scott appears on Chicago Tonight on Jan. 27, 2023. (WTTW News)
Critics blasted Scott for allowing CHA properties to deteriorate and sit empty, even with more than 120,000 Chicagoans on the agency’s waiting lists.
Scott also agreed to a plan championed by Lightfoot to allow the Chicago Fire soccer team to build a new training facility on 23 acres of land owned by the CHA that was once part of the ABLA Homes, a group of four developments where 3,600 families lived.
Johnson campaigned against that deal but construction had begun by the time he took office.
However, a plan to build a $150 million high school to serve families in Chinatown, the South Loop and Bronzeville on the CHA’s former Harold Ickes Homes near 24th and State streets has stalled.
A South Side resident, Hurlock has led the CHA Board since 2019. City records show Hurlock’s term as a CHA Board member expired July 7, and there is no evidence Johnson has nominated her to serve another term. Members of the CHA Board of Commissioners must be confirmed by the City Council.
Hurlock is the executive director of Claretian Associates, a nonprofit firm that manages housing complexes for lower-income residents in South Chicago.
Johnson has made two appointments to the CHA board: Jawanza Malone, a community organizer with the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, and Juliana Gonzalez-Crussi, the executive director at the Center for Changing Lives. A third nominee, LaShawn Cobb, is awaiting confirmation, records show.
Five members of the 10-member board were first appointed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and one is vacant, records show.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
