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A New Record in Housing Authority Salary Abuse
Unfortunately, public housing authorities are proving to be attractive for those who want to feather their nests at taxpayers’ expense. Meanwhile, the federal government writes checks and doesn’t pay much attention to what happens after that.
There have been some high-profile examples lately of housing agency directors’ enjoying high salaries and perks, including those in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. This largesse abuses taxpayers and the people who depend on housing authorities for safe, affordable housing. But the now-former executive director of the tiny Chelsea Housing Authority near Boston might take the prize for the most self-enriching local housing authority director in recent history.
The director earned $360,000 a year to oversee 1,415 apartments in a struggling city of 35,000 people. That’s almost as much as the President of the United States earns as the leader of the free world. Even worse, Michael McLaughlin told the Boston Globe he’d been hiding his full compensation from the state and attributed his flagrant lack of transparency to “the rebel in me.” He insisted he deserved every penny of his salary. His pension promises to be proportionately generous unless authorities can stop it.
As I and others expressed outrage, the housing director resigned, but not until reportedly helping himself to six-figure severance checks.
Now, the FBI is said to be investigating. That’s 100 percent appropriate. But the clean-up of this mess can’t stop with a federal criminal investigation. It has to continue with real effort from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to perform effective oversight of the nation’s housing authorities and exert control over those agencies that have gone rogue with taxpayers’ dollars.
Along with Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, I’ve asked HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to account for what went wrong in Chelsea. And I expect HUD to follow through on its new requirement that public housing authorities disclose the salaries of their five highest-paid employees. HUD proposed the reform only after I repeatedly urged the agency to pay attention to local housing authority excesses. At one point, HUD couldn’t give me any salary or compensation information for the local housing authorities, saying I’d have to contact each housing authority to get that information. Eventually, HUD said it would require the disclosure of the five highest-paid employees at each local housing authority. I intend to follow up and make sure HUD stays on top of the issue. Thousands of local housing authorities receive billions of dollars in federal funding. Sunshine is the best disinfectant, and certain housing authorities need a full-on house-cleaning.
November 11, 2011
Unfortunately, public housing authorities are proving to be attractive for those who want to feather their nests at taxpayers’ expense. Meanwhile, the federal government writes checks and doesn’t pay much attention to what happens after that.
There have been some high-profile examples lately of housing agency directors’ enjoying high salaries and perks, including those in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. This largesse abuses taxpayers and the people who depend on housing authorities for safe, affordable housing. But the now-former executive director of the tiny Chelsea Housing Authority near Boston might take the prize for the most self-enriching local housing authority director in recent history.
The director earned $360,000 a year to oversee 1,415 apartments in a struggling city of 35,000 people. That’s almost as much as the President of the United States earns as the leader of the free world. Even worse, Michael McLaughlin told the Boston Globe he’d been hiding his full compensation from the state and attributed his flagrant lack of transparency to “the rebel in me.” He insisted he deserved every penny of his salary. His pension promises to be proportionately generous unless authorities can stop it.
As I and others expressed outrage, the housing director resigned, but not until reportedly helping himself to six-figure severance checks.
Now, the FBI is said to be investigating. That’s 100 percent appropriate. But the clean-up of this mess can’t stop with a federal criminal investigation. It has to continue with real effort from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to perform effective oversight of the nation’s housing authorities and exert control over those agencies that have gone rogue with taxpayers’ dollars.
Along with Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, I’ve asked HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to account for what went wrong in Chelsea. And I expect HUD to follow through on its new requirement that public housing authorities disclose the salaries of their five highest-paid employees. HUD proposed the reform only after I repeatedly urged the agency to pay attention to local housing authority excesses. At one point, HUD couldn’t give me any salary or compensation information for the local housing authorities, saying I’d have to contact each housing authority to get that information. Eventually, HUD said it would require the disclosure of the five highest-paid employees at each local housing authority. I intend to follow up and make sure HUD stays on top of the issue. Thousands of local housing authorities receive billions of dollars in federal funding. Sunshine is the best disinfectant, and certain housing authorities need a full-on house-cleaning.
November 11, 2011