Ex-Philly housing chief acknowledges affair

    The former head of the Philadelphia Housing Authority says he stepped down last week because federal officials overseeing the agency learned he had an affair with a subordinate.

    Michael Kelly tells The Philadelphia Inquirer the matter was “a lapse of judgment and a personal family failure.”

     

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    Kelly abruptly resigned from the PHA then took a job in Washington, D.C. on Monday as the director of the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development. Kelly says he told officials in Washington why he stepped down.

    A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says Kelly acknowledged the affair when confronted after an employee’s tip led to an investigation. HUD has overseen the Philadelphia Housing Authority since March 2011 following a sexual harassment scandal involving Kelly’s predecessor.

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