Interim Chicago Housing Authority Head Brewer Mulls Mayoral Run

Chicago Housing Authority Operating Chairman Matthew Brewer is considering a run for mayor.

Brewer has been meeting with power players in the Chicago-area business community for weeks, pitching the idea to potential supporters, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Notably, the meetings include conversations with the board of One Future Illinois, a not-for-profit that has been sparring with first-term incumbent Mayor Brandon Johnson over corporate and real estate transfer taxes over the past two years.

Brewer and Johnson have been in a power struggle over who will run the CHA. One of Brewer’s actions as the acting leader of the affordable housing provider was asking the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to review possible conflicts of interest in Johnson’s nominee for head of the CHA, former Alderman Walter Burnett Jr.

Burnett had already stepped down from his City Hall seat after Johnson announced his appointment, pending board approval. But ultimately, Burnett couldn’t be considered because the agency lacks federal conflict of interest waivers from his City Council stints and his past as a landlord to CHA voucher tenants.

After Brewer’s move that blocked Burnett’s appointment, Johnson attempted to override the CHA’s 7-2 decision to make Keith Pettigrew the CEO, following a March 17 vote Johnson alleges was a surprise. The mayor filed a pending lawsuit challenging the vote. The spat began privately, but quickly became public as Johnson called actions taken while Brewer was the CHA’s interim board chair “invalid.” The mayor tried to have him removed from his position in April.

The jockeying for position has kept the CHA without permanent leadership for over 16 months, according to the newspaper. This has led to serious doubts about the future of the agency, which has an operating budget of $1.4 billion and oversees more than 65,000 households.

Johnson has not formally declared intentions to seek a second term.

— Hunter Cooke