Philadelphia Housing Authority may borrow N.Y.C. housing official

New York City will lend the Philadelphia Housing Authority its housing authority's general manger under a deal being finalized to plug the considerable void created by the firing of Executive Director Carl R. Greene, officials in both cities said Wednesday.

The PHA directors Tuesday authorized Chairman John F. Street to negotiate a contract with Michael Kelly, general manager of the New York City Housing Authority, the largest such agency in the country, with more than 178,000 units and 11,000 employees. Kelly would serve as the board searches for a permanent executive director.

PHA board members Jannie L. Blackwell and Patrick J. Eiding said that the board interviewed Kelly two weeks ago with the blessing of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who controls the authority board.

On Wednesday, Kelly, Bloomberg, and New York City Housing Authority Chairman John B. Rhea issued statements supporting the deal.

Kelly is a veteran of the District of Columbia Housing Authority, where he worked from 2000 to 2009. He took the New York City job last year. He headed the Housing Authority of New Orleans from 1994 to 2000 and worked with troubled agencies at HUD from 1993 to 1994, according to the resumé submitted to the board.

Kelly said Wednesday that his 20-plus years managing "large and complex" housing authorities "will allow me to quickly step in and provide temporary leadership at the Philadelphia Housing Authority."

"I think he's going to be exactly what we need," Eiding said Wednesday night.

"He's got a lot of experience, he knows how we operate and understands our system, so it would not be someone you had to let in cold," Blackwell said.

Mayor Nutter, who has spoken to Bloomberg several times about the arrangement and met with Kelly, was also fully on board.

"My expectation is that should a contract be negotiated and approved by the PHA board, Michael Kelly will be able to reestablish the faith and trust we all want to have in PHA," said Nutter, adding that Kelly has both "the creative ideas and the experience" for the job.

For his part, Bloomberg said, "I'm glad that Mike will have an opportunity to use his experience to help our sister city, and we all wish him luck - and a quick return." Bloomberg was approached about Kelly's availability by Nutter and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.

Still in question is how PHA would compensate Kelly and the New York authority, and when he would start. Eiding said he would like to have Kelly on board within 30 days to deal with outstanding labor contracts and the business of cleaning up PHA.

Greene, the powerful executive director of PHA for more than a decade, was fired by its board of directors in September after the revelation that he secretly settled three sexual-harassment claims against him for $648,000 and was prepared to settle a fourth for $250,000, all without notifying the board.

HUD is conducting a full-scale audit of PHA, with its inspector general and the FBI also conducting a criminal investigation into the use of nonprofits by PHA.

Street would not confirm Kelly's hiring earlier Wednesday, saying by e-mail: "The Philadelphia Housing Authority would be pleased to get a person of Michael Kelly's background and experience to work with us during this transition. He is exactly the kind of person we would be excited about hiring even on an interim basis."

Kelly has an undergraduate degree from Princeton University in architecture and urban planning, a master's in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's in education from San Francisco State University. He was one of several candidates suggested by HUD, which insisted that the board's choice be acceptable to both it and Nutter.

The board thought it had landed an interim executive director once before, but a deal to bring Gregory P. Russ, executive director of the Cambridge (Mass.) Housing Authority, fell apart when the Cambridge board had a change of heart, Blackwell said.