NEAR NORTH SIDE — Chicago Housing Authority's newly appointed interim chief executive officer Eugene Jones said he's against the proposed Keeping the Promise ordinance, which was developed to increase City Council's oversight of the CHA.
"Transparency is there. You gotta ask for it. If the City Council would like me to do a presentation, I can give a presentation ... but I haven't seen that and no one has demanded that," said Jones, who fielded questions from CHA residents, among others, at a Near North Unity Program meeting, held Monday evening at 1111 N. Wells St.
"They want to put an ordinance on me and demand me to report to the City Council. I don't think that's right. I don't think that's fair. I just think it's a waste of time."
Jones is the Chicago Housing Authority's fifth CEO since Mayor Rahm Emanuel first took office in 2011. He's inheriting an agency that has faced scrutiny for sitting on at least $440 million in reserves, even after pumping an extra $55 million into its pension fund and paying down debts early over the prior two years.
In July, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro weighed in, saying the Chicago Housing Authority is holding too much money and that it is a "concern."
When asked about the reserves, Jones said: "When you say we have $440 million in reserves, that's not true. It's a different pot of money."
"We have $221 million in our development reserve as of Jan. 1, 2015. By year 2017, it's going to be in the negative of $21 million. We're going to spend down our reserves. The issue is going to be like when 2017 rolls around, everyone's going to look at me like I have three heads."
"I can give you a whole schedule of how we're going to spend down that money. This year, we're going to spend down $90 million of that money," he added, naming residential developments, security, city gardens as upcoming projects.
Also at the meeting a resident asked Jones about the re-development of former Cabrini-Green housing, or more specifically: the rowhouses on Cambridge Avenue. The resident said she heard the city is talking about tearing down the rowhouses even though they were recently rehabbed.
In 2013 a community group comprised of some of the last public housing tenants in the Cabrini-Green rowhouses filed a lawsuit against the agency, claiming the CHA reneged on a promise to keep hundreds of housing units.
"The 440 vacant units are in litigation right now," Jones said, referring to those same units.
Jones added that the rowhouses are safe from the wrecking ball "for now" while CHA "works on the best use for that property."
Randall Blakey, pastor of LaSalle Street Church and Near North Unity Program's exeuctive director, sought clarification of a recent string of tweets from the official CHA Twitter account:
We’re updating our list of former leaseholders who lived in CHA public housing on 10/1/99 covered by Relocation Rights Contract (RRC). (1/4)
— CHA (@theCHAtweets) August 26, 2015Go to http://t.co/vUzhmzh6Am, click Residents then Right of Return For Former CHA Residents. Complete if your name appears. (2/4)
— CHA (@theCHAtweets) August 26, 2015CHA will contact you to schedule an appointment. Questions? Email rrcpublicnotice@thecha.org or call (312) 786-3104. (3/4)
— CHA (@theCHAtweets) August 26, 201510/1/99 CHA leaseholders must contact CHA to exercise their Right of Return by 12/6/15. If not, they will lose their Right of Return. (4/4)
— CHA (@theCHAtweets) August 26, 2015Residents expressed concerned that former CHA residents looking to return to public housing might not use Twitter. They also worried about those who were displaced, or "lost," because Cabrini-Green was demolished and social service providers haven't kept track of residents over the years.
Jones said he believes social media, combined with word-of-mouth, is the best way to spread the word.
"You're right ... we probably lost contact with a lot of people," he admitted. "As soon as we close it in October, people will be calling saying they didn't see it."
Jones said if CHA doesn't get a significant response the first time, he'd put out a second call for those looking to exercise their right of return.
"I'm not responsible for way back when. I'm responsible for when I signed on this job and I'm trying to make it right," he said.
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