No more free cars at the Philadelphia Housing Authority

No more free cars at the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

One of the lasting emblems of wasteful spending at the public housing agency - the abundance of employees who had agency cars to take home and use as they pleased - has been eliminated.

At one time, as many as 200 employees had "take-home" privileges for agency cars. Now, only 19 people - including the interim executive director and emergency staff - will get vehicles, said Nichole Tillman, a PHA spokeswoman.

Forty employees got letters this week telling them to turn in the keys to their cars.

In addition, PHA took away a 2000 Ford Explorer issued to Asia Coney, president of the Resident Advisory Board, an affiliate that represents the interests of tenants at the agency.

It also retrieved the 2007 Ford Focus of Sonya Jones, the tenant group's administrator.

It's all part of what interim PHA Executive Director Kelvin Jeremiah calls ongoing "housekeeping" at the troubled agency. More than a year ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development took control of PHA after the sexual-harassment scandal that led to the 2010 firing of Executive Director Carl R. Greene.

"We want to make sure people who are receiving benefits are entitled to them," said Jeremiah, who previously was PHA's director of audits and compliance.

Coney and Jones did not respond to calls to the advisory board seeking comment.

Greene, Jeremiah said, ran an agency notorious for its extravagant perks.

Michael P. Kelly, who replaced Greene in 2010 until resigning in June, began eliminating waste from the agency.

PHA has stopped spending millions to cater staff and resident meetings with hot meals like grilled salmon.

It has canceled lifetime health insurance for senior staff.

It has ended child-care reimbursements of $5,000 and mortgage assistance of $5,000 for select employees.

Jeremiah said he would continue "cleaning house" and "rightsizing" the agency.

"We had institutional bad behavior," he said. "We're changing a culture that would permit such behavior as acceptable."

He has started with cars.

PHA has a fleet of 475 trucks, SUVs, and sedans. Employees gas up at municipal pumps, located at police districts. PHA reimburses the city for the cost.

Jeremiah said he wanted to "significantly reduce" the agency's reliance on cars and would cut the fleet size by 15 percent a year. "We don't have that substantial a need for so many vehicles," he said.

On gas alone, PHA expects to save about $80,000 a year from the 40 employees who recently lost their car privileges, Tillman said.

The tenant leaders who returned their keys - Coney and Jones - have cost PHA $3,286.40 in gas charges this year, as well as $4,252.59 in repairs since 2010, Tillman said.

Coney, a public housing resident and close ally of Greene, was paid $108,000 as head of another PHA affiliate, Tenant Support Services Inc. After Greene's departure, PHA ceased funding the affiliate.