The Philadelphia Housing Authority is the only public housing agency in a major American city with a board that doesn’t answer to the mayor.
It’s a state agency using federal dollars to serve city residents. Its five-member board, thanks in large measure to its dysfunctional structure, shares much of the blame for a widening scandal centered on the agency’s suspended executive director, Carl R. Greene, according to Mayor Nutter and other critics.
“Only in Philadelphia,” Nutter said last week in an interview. “A couple of people have responsibility, but no one has ultimate authority. It’s stunning.”
Two of PHA’s five board members are appointed by the city controller, and two are appointed by the mayor, with those four picking a fifth to represent tenants. But because terms are staggered, the sitting mayor doesn’t get to make both his appointments until years into his term.
This has left the board controlled by John F. Street, an avowed Nutter opponent, who appointed himself before he left office as mayor in 2008.
Because of this bizarre structure, Nutter has justified his admittedly low-profile approach to the controversy surrounding Greene, knowing that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has far greater sway over the agency than he does.
Full story: PHA’s setup blocks mayor, abets abuses | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/19/2010