Public housing chair makes waves at city agency

John Rhea, the chairman of New York City’s public housing agency, has been causing quite a stir in city affairs since he took the position in 2009, according to a profile in the New York Times.

While the former banking executive has been credited with taking a much-needed radical approach at the helm of the New York City Housing Authority and securing federal stimulus money to pay the agency upward of $65 million a year and cover operating costs for 21 developments, he has also been criticized for allegedly sparking an exodus of well-qualified officials, who left in the wake of a series of computer glitches affecting Section 8 housing benefits.

The departed included senior official Michael Kelly, who left NYCHA to head up the Philadelphia Housing Authority after just one year at the agency.

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Rhea said he’d come into the position with strict instructions and had not had time to mess around.

“The mayor gave me a mandate to fix the finances, to make NYCHA less insular and more cooperative and partner-oriented with its sister agencies and with other entities across the city, and to improve the quality of life for residents,” he told the Times. “That’s not a mandate for ‘keep doing what you’re doing.’ That’s a mandate for transformation and change.” [NYT]