And expire it did, as scheduled, on March 31. A week later, HUD sent PHA a letter detailing a plan to transition the authority out of the MTW program, stating that “PHA will not retain all of its MTW flexibilities during the transition period, nor will it be considered an MTW agency during this time.” The impact of this blow could be devastating, Greene says.
ONGOING TURMOIL PHA plans to take additional legal action later this year, contending that it is still being treated unfairly by HUD. Greene argues that no MTW agencies with full and broad agreements such as that of PHA’s have signed the standard agreement. “We asked them for a one-year extension, and they refused,” says Kirk Dorn, PHA’s general manager of communications. “They gave us various reasons for refusing but the reality is that if we had given the land over as requested, we believe we would have been extended. It’s as simple as that.”
Not surprisingly, the authority has the backing of the state’s U.S. senators, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). The senators continue to work with members on both sides of the aisle to ensure that the 84,000 residents in the Philadelphia area are not penalized because of bureaucratic infighting, says Casey’s press secretary, Kendra Barkoff.
Unfortunately, PHA is not alone in its plight with HUD. The accusations against HUD under Jackson’s leadership include steering lucrative contracts to business associates for deals with the Housing Authority of New Orleans and the Virgin Islands Housing Authority.
Indeed, a continued investigation of wrongdoings at HUD is critical, says Jon Gutzmann, executive director of the St. Paul (Minn.) Public Housing Agency. “If HUD retaliated against the Philadelphia Housing Authority, as the e-mail exchange and ‘coincidental’ timing of the funding cut to PHA seemed to suggest, then other public officials who speak out against alleged HUD cronyism and corruption are also ‘at risk,’” Gutzmann says. “It is important that the numerous federal investigations into the alleged contracting activities of former Secretary Jackson continue so taxpayers can find out if their money was spent in the public’s interest or if it was misused.”
CLICK HERE to check out MFE’s time line highlighting key dates in the HUD/PHA dispute or check out the slideshow HERE.
AT ODDS: Former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson (left) and Philadelphia Housing Authority Executive Director Carl R. Greene.
SPEAKING OUT Former HUD Assistant Secretary Orlando Cabrera, who resigned in January 2008, discusses the bitter battle between HUD and PHA.
Q: Describe your working relationship with Carl Greene?
A: I have a lot of respect for a lot of the things that Carl has done right. But I have a lot of problems with some of the things that Carl has done. I don’t think it’s good policy for an executive director of a public housing authority to fail to communicate either with the assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity and/or her staff when they are undertaking a [fair housing] audit.
Q: You’ve stated that Jackson resigned for reasons unrelated to the PHA. Why, then, did Jackson resign?
A: I don’t know; I haven’t spoken to him. But I am very comfortable in saying it had little to do with PHA. To the best of my recollection, I have spoken to Jackson four times about PHA. Three times it had to do with Jackson and me basically comically commiserating about Carl and his antics.
Q: From your vantage point, did former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson pressure Greene and PHA to transfer the land to Universal Cos.?
A: Did Jackson do that? I have no earthly clue. Here’s what I know: I didn’t. The only pressure he ever got from me was to perform his HOPE VI agreement.
Q: Are other housing authorities dissatisfied with the new standard Moving to Work agreement? A: At the end of the day, 26 out of the 28 were just fine with this; two weren’t. One was Philadelphia. What they don’t want to do is report because then they actually have to tell somebody what they are doing.
Editor’s note:For an expanded version of this Q&A with Cabrera, please visit HERE.