PHA loses another Director who's hands were caught in the cookie jar.

[seand]

And I suppose because PHA is established under state authority, the controller does not even audit, just the state auditor. Give people who don't have to account for the money a huge slush fund of non-transparent money to hand to friends. No wonder it sucks.

[phillycat]

Well, Kelly hired this one in particular, from what I understand.

Oh, right, she was "Director of Special Projects." That's always code for "Lady I Hump," like "Special Assistant to..."

[raider.adam]

Hand it all out as section 8 vouchers, then. As much as people hate section 8, it's probably better than having a huge corrupt agency managing rental housing. Adding some kind of safeguards that kick a landlord out of the section 8 program if they don't do a good job of screening and managing their tenants could go a long way toward making sure the section 8 housing doesn't become a crime hotspot.

I'm ok with the idea of shifting public housing to vouchers.

And I suppose because PHA is established under state authority, the controller does not even audit, just the state auditor. Give people who don't have to account for the money a huge slush fund of non-transparent money to hand to friends. No wonder it sucks.

Well, normally the Controller would have no authority since the office jurisdiction is based on what receives city money, which PHA doesn't. Of course, the Controller does get to appoint a board member, so in theory there should be a vested interest to audit.

Of course it isn't like Butkovitz audits anything important or in front of the wave.

[seand]

So what do people think of the proposal to shift more control to the Mayor, away from the state (read directly from the Democratic City Committee)?
Might be a slight improvement but might be no change at all and we end up with a board still populated by folks like Street, Blackwell and Brady's wife.

Bill would give mayor control of PHA

[ArcticSplash]

I want absolute zero control from the City and now also the Commonwealth over this agency.

The money comes from Federal dollars, the Feds should run it and be responsible for this disaster. It should stay with HUD permanently. I'm totally against local control of PHA. Time has proven that Pennsylvanians are incompetent at running a large housing authority. Ethical Contracting is an oxymoron here. So is meritous promotion and hiring.

[raider.adam]

I want absolute zero control from the City and now also the Commonwealth over this agency.

The money comes from Federal dollars, the Feds should run it and be responsible for this disaster. It should stay with HUD permanently. I'm totally against local control of PHA. Time has proven that Pennsylvanians are incompetent at running a large housing authority. Ethical Contracting is an oxymoron here. So is meritous promotion and hiring.

But does HUD have any interest in running housing authorities? It is my impression they don't.

[eldondre]

No more free cars at the Philadelphia Housing Authority