Politics
As Interim Chicago Housing Authority CEO Steps Down, Walter Burnett’s Appointment to Lead CHA Remains Stalled
Matthew Brewer, left, will replace Angela Hurlock, right, as the CEO of the Chicago Housing Authority on a temporary basis. (Courtesy of Chicago Housing Authority)
Interim Chicago Housing Authority CEO Angela Hurlock stepped down on Tuesday, as former Ald. Walter Burnett’s bid to lead the third largest public housing agency in the nation remains stalled.
The CHA Board of Commissioners had planned to formally appoint Burnett to lead the agency on Tuesday, after Mayor Brandon Johnson formally tapped him to take over the agency that provides more than 65,000 low-income households with public housing, rental vouchers and homeownership programs, interim Board Chair Matthew Brewer said.
But that vote was scrapped after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development warned the board not to appoint Burnett before it could review his potential conflicts of interest, Brewer said.
Brewer will serve as the agency’s temporary leader, at least until the board’s next meeting, set for Sept. 16.
“It is an unusual and unfortunate situation,” Brewer said. “We are in this time of transition, and we will remain committed to making sure the CHA works the way it’s supposed to work, that we’re serving our residents, that our staff is empowered to do their jobs, and that we’re continuing to function as a well-oiled machine.”
Brewer’s acknowledgment that the CHA board had planned to hire Burnett as the agency’s leader is the first official acknowledgement that Johnson had tapped his close ally for the crucial role.
First appointed to the CHA Board by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2013, Brewer was named vice chairman in November 2021.
Brewer replaced Hurlock as board chair on an interim basis in November when Johnson tapped Hurlock to replace former CHA CEO Tracey Scott. Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed Hurlock to lead the CHA board in 2019.
A CHA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question about whether Hurlock will return to her previous position as chair of the CHA Board.
“We don’t expect this transition period to last very long,” Brewer said.
After board members praised her record as interim CEO, Hurlock said she was pleased to serve.
“Thank you for trusting me,” Hurlock said, praising the CHA’s staff and residents. “Trusting that, you know, I would try to do the right thing. It doesn’t always go easy. It doesn’t always go as planned.”
If his selection to lead the CHA is approved, 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 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.”
After serving for 30 years on the Chicago City Council, Burnett will start earning an annual city taxpayer-funded pension of $120,608 next month, according to records obtained by WTTW News. As head of the CHA, Burnett would likely earn an annual salary of more than $310,000, based on Scott’s contract.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
