After a year-long search, Mayor de Blasio has selected a new chair for the New York City Housing Authority. But critics in the City Council and tenant advocates are concerned about the new NYCHA boss's experience, his dedication to fixing the beleaguered public housing agency, and his salary.
City Hall announced on Tuesday night that current Minneapolis Public Housing Authority chair Gregory Russ will be taking the reins at NYCHA starting in August. He will be the authority's first permanent chair since Shola Olatoye departed in April 2018—and at $402,628 a year, he will be making almost double her salary. As a note of comparison, the mayor's salary is $258,750. Daniel Barber, the head of the NYCHA tenants group Citywide Council of Presidents, said Russ's pay isn't a good look for the cash-strapped housing authority.
"We're in this position that we're in now because of these astronomical payments and salaries," Barber said.
According to City Hall spokeswoman Marcy Miranda, Russ's salary will be paid through a combination of NYCHA funding and cash from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She also called Russ' track record running public housing agencies in Minneapolis and Cambridge, MA "exemplary."
But some city officials are already questioning Russ's dedication to the job, considering his family plans to stay in Minnesota through the next school year. City Hall says Russ will move to New York City and become an official resident, but he plans to regularly travel back to Minnesota to visit his family.
A previous de Blasio hire, former Department of Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte, resigned his post in 2017 after reports that he repeatedly used a city vehicle to drive to Maine for weekend trips and vacations prompted an investigation from the city's Inspector General.
Bronx City Councilmember Ritchie Torres said Russ's planned time away should be cause for concern.
"NYCHA's in a state of emergency. It's in a state of humanitarian crisis. The next NYCHA chair has to be on the ground 24/7," Torres said.
Miranda said there is no set schedule for Russ's travel, but added that NYCHA's general manager is responsible for running the authority's day-to-day operations.
"There is no other city in the country whose public housing authority can match that of New York City’s, and we are confident that [Russ] is up to the task," Miranda wrote in a statement.