Politics

As Ald. Walter Burnett Officially Resigns From City Council, CHA Appointment Appears Stalled

West Side Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward) will officially resign from the Chicago City Council on Thursday after 30 years in office — but he will not take over the Chicago Housing Authority, at least immediately.

Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters Tuesday he had not officially tapped Burnett, the Chicago City Council’s longest serving member, to lead the beleaguered Chicago Housing Authority.

The CHA has been without a permanent leader for nine months.

“I fully expect the (CHA) board will make its final decision once I put forward a name within the coming month,” said Johnson, adding that three people, including Burnett, remain under consideration for the top post.

Burnett did not respond to a request for comment from WTTW News Tuesday.

The CHA Board delayed its July meeting by two weeks until Tuesday, after Burnett indicated he was interested in leading the CHA after stepping down from the City Council after representing parts of the West Loop and the West Side for three decades.

But Interim CHA Board Chair Matthew Brewer acknowledged the appointment of a permanent CEO was taking longer than anticipated.

“We are in the process of going through different contractual and compliance aspects and hope to have an update soon,” Brewer said, thanking interim CHA CEO Angela Hurlock for her lengthy service as the agency’s temporary leader.

Hurlock, who is expected to return to the board once a new CEO is confirmed, replaced former CHA CEO Tracey Scott, who resigned in October amid growing criticism that the agency has not done enough to address the city’s affordable housing shortage.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding his appointment to lead the CHA, Burnett’s resignation from the City Council will be official on Thursday, according to a letter he sent to Johnson on July 17 that was released by the Office of the City Clerk.

Read the full letter.

Johnson now has 60 days to appoint a replacement, who will serve until the next election, set for February 2027. This will be Johnson’s second appointment to the City Council — he tapped Ald. Anthony Quezada (35th Ward) to replace former Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who is now the CEO of the Chicago Park District.

Burnett told WTTW News that he hopes his 29-year-old son Walter “Red” Burnett will replace him on the City Council.

That would give the younger Burnett a leg up in the next election — and ensure the continuation of a political dynasty that includes Burnett’s older son, state Rep. Jawaharial “Omar” Williams (D-Chicago).

Burnett’s imminent departure also set off a scramble among current alderpeople eager to replace him as the city’s vice mayor and chair of the powerful Zoning Committee.

Johnson has been noncommittal about replacing Burnett, saying only he would select someone who “reflects my values” to represent the 27th Ward on the City Council, serve as Zoning Committee chair and hold the largely ceremonial position of vice mayor.

Chicago Housing Authority at a Crossroads

The third-largest public housing agency in the nation, CHA provides more than 65,000 low-income households with public housing, rental vouchers and homeownership programs.

If he is picked to lead the CHA, Burnett, who grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing development, will inherit the agency’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. Between 2020 and 2024, 3,000 new mixed-income units were built on CHA land and in private developments across the city, a CHA spokesperson said.

Burnett, 61, would also be asked to renovate thousands of CHA properties that have deteriorated after being allowed to sit empty, even as more than 120,000 Chicagoans spend years on the agency’s waiting lists.

Johnson has told reporters that he was certain Burnett was up to the challenge.

“You very rarely find someone who has that type of compassion and understanding around the value of building more affordable housing, particularly public housing,” Johnson said of Burnett.

Johnson has made three appointments to the CHA board: Jawanza Malone, a community organizer with the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, Juliana Gonzalez-Crussi, the executive director at the Center for Changing Lives, and LaShawn Cobb, an educator and journalist.

Four board members were first appointed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, one by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and one by former Mayor Richard M. Daley. Hurlock’s seat on the board remains vacant.

During the 2023 campaign for mayor, Johnson promised to expand the number of homes available for longtime Chicagoans and often vows to make Chicago the most affordable big city in America. That makes his pick to lead the CHA crucial as he enters the second half of what he hopes is his first term in office.

“I’m looking for someone who has real, lived experience,” Johnson said when asked about what criteria he would use to make his pick for a new CEO for the CHA. “Someone who understands the value of public housing.”

An End of a Political Era

Burnett’s imminent resignation from the City Council means the political operation started by former Cook County Board President George Dunne will see its grip on Chicago political power, which dates back to 1969, wane.

Burnett got his start as an aide to former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White when he was Cook County recorder of deeds and launched his own political career in 1995, winning the 27th Ward seat on the City Council, which was once held by former state Sen. Rickey Hendon, who led a rival political operation.

But Burnett knew he was unlikely to win another term on the City Council because of a state law that prevented convicted felons from holding public office in Illinois, leaving him vulnerable to a challenge by Hendon, who wanted his City Council seat back. When Burnett was 17, he was convicted of armed robbery and went on to spend two years in prison.

White convinced then-Gov. Jim Edgar to pardon Burnett, paving the way for the West Side native to rise to political prominence, and stay there, even after backing the losing candidates in the last two mayoral elections.

In 2019, Burnett backed Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle over future Mayor Lori Lightfoot. In 2023, Burnett backed Lightfoot before switching alliances to former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas over Johnson in the runoff.

But Burnett quickly mended fences first with Lightfoot and then with Johnson.

“I’ll miss City Hall,” Burnett told WTTW News.

Burnett’s final City Council meeting featured a nearly two-hour long tribute and multiple standing ovations from his colleagues.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), the chair of the powerful Finance Committee, called Burnett a “statesman.”

“A statesman is someone who is experienced and respected and is a leader. And that’s what you are.”

Burnett, who led City Council committees under Daley, Emanuel and Lightfoot, served as vice mayor for a little more than two years.

As an olive branch, Johnson transformed the ceremonial position into a City Hall power center with a budget of more than $400,000 and new duties as a community liaison for the mayor.

In October, Burnett took over the powerful Zoning Committee, helping resolve a monthslong impasse after Johnson’s first pick to lead the powerful committee, Ramirez-Rosa, stepped down under fire.

Ramirez-Rosa resigned as Zoning Committee chair after acknowledging he was disrespectful toward Ald. Emma Mitts (37th Ward) as he scrambled at the height of the migrant crisis to prevent a vote on whether Chicago should remain a sanctuary city.

As Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th Ward) served as the committee’s interim leader, Johnson first turned to Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez (25th Ward), a progressive ally who has frequently demanded that the city build more affordable housing, to lead the Zoning Committee.

Leaders of Chicago’s business community mobilized to block Sigcho Lopez’s appointment as Zoning Committee chair, privately expressing concern that he would block developments that failed to set aside the maximum number of units possible for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans or include other costly benefits for the community.

A frequent champion of affordable housing, Burnett presided over the boom in the West Loop, greenlighting both commercial and residential projects, and helped the Fulton Market district transform from an industrial stronghold to one of the city’s hottest neighborhoods. Burnett also fiercely defended aldermanic prerogative, the decades-old tradition of giving City Council members the final authority over developments in their own wards.

Burnett’s departure will complicate Johnson’s efforts to reach moderate members of the City Council, all of whom like Burnett personally and respect his ability to make a deal.

That means the already fraught upcoming budget negotiations will be made even more difficult by the departure of a seasoned deal maker, trusted by every member of the City Council.

Whoever leads the 27th Ward after Burnett will oversee the construction and planned opening of the city’s new casino, sandwiched between the Cabrini-Green complex and the gentrifying West Loop in River West.

On the other side of the ward, the next 27th Ward alderperson will be in charge of shepherding a $7 billion plan that promises to transform the 55 acres of parking lots and vacant land surrounding the United Center into 9,500 new homes, 1,309 hotel rooms, a music hall and public space.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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