The Chicago Housing Authority is launching a series of initiatives for 2025 as it reckons with the departures of numerous senior leaders and searches for a new CEO, including moves meant to increase housing and safety.
CHA officials joined Mayor Brandon Johnson in announcing a “year of renewal,” which will address “past challenges” around transparency and engagement with residents through this plan, said Johnson and interim CHA CEO Angela Hurlock at a ribbon-cutting event for a newly rehabbed CHA property Thursday in Lincoln Park.
In a reference to recent Tribune news coverage around a series of staff departures, Hurlock said that it is “no secret that CHA is undergoing a significant transition.”
The agency plans to “rebuild trust,” Hurlock said, by launching a resident survey this spring to help shape CHA programs, policies and operations; creating a new division of “healthy homes” to address residents’ “environmental concerns” related to their living conditions; improving private property management of CHA buildings, with a current request for proposals out to find new “local and community-based organizations,” and by strengthening its collaboration with Chicago’s Department of Housing to help develop the city’s next five-year housing plan.
CHA is the third largest public housing authority in the country, serving more than 65,000 households, and it also is the largest single owner of rental housing in the city with more than 21,000 public housing units.
“True change … it takes time, but we are committed to using this moment to position CHA to be the best possible self it can be,” Hurlock said at the news conference.
CHA has been bleeding staff in recent months, with eight high-ranking officials having left the agency since August 2024, including one that was fired. The agency had a closed-session board meeting last Thursday to discuss “personnel matters.” CHA was also recently flagged by its Office of the Inspector General for failing to enforce tenant lease agreements, resulting in over $10 million being owed to CHA in past-due rent from about 1,400 residents.
The most recent departures, Ann McKenzie, CHA’s chief development officer, and Dan Cruz, CHA’s chief of staff, were announced Feb. 14. McKenzie did not respond to a Tribune request for comment and Cruz declined to comment.
CHA spokesperson Matthew Aguilar said the agency cannot comment on personnel matters. McKenzie had been in her role for over nine years, and Cruz had been in his role for about four years, CHA said.
The Tribune previously reported that Eric Garrett, CHA’s former chief operating officer, and Ellen Sargent, former deputy chief of building operations, resigned Jan. 3. Shiwei Zhou, CHA’s former treasurer, resigned Dec. 31. Ellen Harris, CHA’s former general counsel, resigned in August, after allegations from staff that she created a “toxic work culture.”
Asked if he had a role in the recent turnover at CHA, Johnson told the Tribune that the agency is undergoing a “transformation” and that it speaks to “to our overall vision” for affordable and public housing in the city. He listed some of his administration’s housing achievements and said his “main objective as mayor is to repopulate the city of Chicago with working people.”
“A stronger CHA means a stronger Chicago,” Johnson said at the news conference.
In an email obtained by the Tribune, Hurlock said Cruz’s responsibilities will transition to James Bebley, the interim chief operating officer, who started in his role Feb. 6. Hurlock said in the email that she would follow up with more information about the interim leader of the development department.
Bebley has worn many hats at CHA in his tenure with the agency, which lasted from 2015 to 2022, including general counsel, chief operations officer and interim CEO. He resigned in April 2022 from his COO role but his official last date of employment was in Nov. 2022, according to his separation agreement obtained by the Tribune through a public records request. Aguilar declined to comment on the nature of Bebley’s departure citing CHA’s policy to not comment on personnel matters.
Asked how CHA would maintain services for its residents while it undergoes staff transitions, Hurlock told the Tribune that the agency is going to make sure that it is “covering what needs to be covered” and is taking input from staff and residents.
“It is our hope, our goal, our intention that we are going to move toward more efficiency and being able to do greater work and serve our families more,” Hurlock said. “This is not a time of trying to be deficient; this is a time to strengthen to do more. It’s going to take time because we are rebuilding, but we are excited about that.”
Matthew Brewer, CHA’s interim board chairman, said at the news conference that CHA’s goal is to have a new CEO by the middle of the year and is looking for someone who understands residents’ needs and “champions safe, stable and affordable housing.” The new CEO, he said, will also launch a new long-term strategic plan in alignment with the city department of housing’s 5-year housing plan.
Francine Washington, a CHA resident and board commissioner, told the Tribune she hopes the new CEO “looks out for the residents first.” She said the recent turnover is “welcome” and some of it came out of resident pushback and feedback.
As for CHA’s plans announced Thursday, Washington said she has to “wait and see” how they shake out.
