Politics
Johnson Moves to Oust Head of CHA Board Amid Dispute Over CEO Pick
Background: Chicago City Hall is pictured in a file photo. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News) Inset: CHA Board Chairman Matthew Brewer (Courtesy of the Chicago Housing Authority)
Mayor Brandon Johnson moved Wednesday to oust the head of the Chicago Housing Authority board after he led the push to appoint a new CEO to lead the agency over the mayor’s objections.
CHA Board Chairman Matthew Brewer vowed to fight Johnson’s attempt to remove him from the 10-member board and prevent Keith Pettigrew from taking over the nation’s third largest public housing agency on April 20. CHA has been without a permanent leader for 18 months.
Johnson in a statement called Brewer’s “unilateral decision” to appoint Pettigrew “an action fully inconsistent with the Housing Authorities Act and Bylaws of the CHA Board of Commissioners.”
Pettigrew’s selection as CEO was approved by seven members of the board, with Commissioners Jawanza Malone and Angela Parker voting no. Commissioner Mildred Harris abstained from the vote.
Johnson said Malone, whom he appointed, would serve as the board’s new chair and the agency’s operating chairman.
“CHA residents deserve leadership decisions that are transparent, lawful and grounded in their lived experiences, not a process that prioritizes expediency over accountability,” Johnson said. “(Brewer’s) stewardship of this process disenfranchised both fellow Commissioners and the communities the CHA serves.”
Brewer, who was appointed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said in a statement that he, and the other members who supported Pettigrew’s appointment as CEO, “followed the law.”
“The mayor may disagree with the outcome, but rewriting the facts doesn’t change them and mischaracterizing the law does not change the actual law,” Brewer said. “Now, the mayor is attempting to unilaterally disregard the process and put politics and cronies over the best interests of our CHA residents, and they deserve better.”
Brewer said it is a “big win” for the CHA and its residents to hire Pettigrew, who has more than 20 years of experience leading public housing agencies, including in the nation’s capital and New Orleans.
Johnson pushed the board for nearly a year to name former Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward), one of his closest allies on the Chicago City Council, to lead the CHA, only to run into a brick wall of opposition from board members and federal officials.
The dispute plunges the agency that provides more than 65,000 low-income households with public housing, rental vouchers and homeownership programs into new uncertainty. The agency has an annual budget of $1.4 billion.
Pettigrew can only be removed from his new position during the next year if eight of the board’s 10 members agree he is responsible for “misconduct, neglect of duty, or material breach,” according to the resolution that appointed Pettigrew.
The decision by Johnson to move to oust Brewer was first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
