This story is republished from Block Club Chicago.
Chicago Housing Authority CEO Tracey Scott is leaving the agency after four and a half years, a stretch when the CHA faced growing criticism for letting hundreds of homes deteriorate or sit empty during a housing crisis.
In a statement released by the CHA, Mayor Brandon Johnson thanked Scott for her “steadfast leadership.”
Behind the official announcement, though, Johnson is cleaning house at the CHA, multiple sources told Block Club.
Though the CHA is an independent government body, the mayor has the power to select its CEO and board members. In his mayoral transition report, Johnson called for the CHA to produce more housing and for its leaders to be more transparent and accountable.
But in his first year and a half in office, Johnson said little about the agency, even as some of his closest allies urged him to make changes.
The mayor is finally making his moves, sources said. Last month, Johnson installed two longtime community activists on the board, and he’s preparing to appoint another board member, a CHA resident, later this week.
“I think what you’re looking at is an overhaul of the CHA and it’s long overdue,” said housing advocate Roderick Wilson, executive director of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center. “What we’re looking at is hopefully a new day for the CHA … with more housing and better management.”
The Mayor’s Office didn’t respond to a request for further comment.
Meanwhile, resident leaders welcomed Scott’s departure, saying CHA residents have endured poor maintenance, pest infestations and mold outbreaks.
“Residents were suffering in the end,” said Claudice Ware, a member of the Central Advisory Council, a citywide group of resident representatives.
Catherine Serpa, the leader for scattered-site residents on the North and West sides, said she felt Scott was “selling off properties” and didn’t “feel like she needed to address or converse with resident leadership whatsoever.”
The agency is expected to conduct a national search for Scott’s successor. In the meantime, CHA board chair Angela Hurlock will serve as interim CEO.
In its statement, the CHA noted that Scott led the agency through the pandemic, and since she was named CEO by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2020, the CHA finished or started the development of thousands of homes.
“Housing serves as a foundation that helps people unlock opportunities,” the statement quoted Scott saying. “I am proud of the accomplishments of an incredible CHA team.”
Scott’s ouster will likely cost taxpayer money. Under a contract the CHA board approved in March 2023, Scott will be paid $300,000 a year, plus annual raises, through the end of 2025. If she’s terminated before then for reasons other than fraud, mismanagement or incompetence, the CHA has to pay her $115,000 in severance.
The board signed off on Scott’s contract less than a month after she helped the CHA complete the latest in a series of no-bid land selloffs. In that case, the agency gave up 23 acres on the Near West Side so the Chicago Fire soccer club could build a practice facility.
Scott’s exit comes a year after Block Club and Illinois Answers Project found nearly 500 of the CHA’s scattered-site properties are empty while more than 200,000 people are on the agency’s waiting lists for housing.
In April, the City Council passed a measure calling on Scott and other CHA officials to answer questions from the council’s housing committee. She appeared the next month to address resident concerns and the agency’s vacancies.
But she also got an earful, as residents, including some who represent CHA tenants on its leadership boards, called for her to resign or be replaced.
Scott blamed the CHA’s problems on “historic challenges” — even though she had led the agency for four years by that time.
After that meeting, Johnson and his allies concluded that she had to go. It took another five months before she was ousted.
“It’s clear by the number of CHA residents who testified that there needed to be a change in direction,” said Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), chair of the housing committee. “I welcome the transition and I look forward to working with council members and the Mayor’s Office to appoint a new CEO.”
