PHA hires temporary director

New York Housing Authority chief is taking a leave of absence from that post to lead the Philadelphia agency. He replaces the fired Carl Greene.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority has hired a temporary executive director. The previous director, Carl Greene, was fired in September following a series of sexual harassment allegations.

Michael Kelly comes from New York City, where he is the general manager of that city’s Housing Authority. He also spent 10 years running the housing authority in Washington D.C.

Kelly will take a leave of absence from his New York job to be interim director of the embattled Philadelphia Housing Authority.

PHA chairman John Street, the former mayor, said Thursday residents shouldn’t get their hopes up that Kelly will stay on as a permanent director.

“He’s a great guy, we’d love to have him and maybe we might be able to pull this off, maybe we won’t, we don’t know for sure,” said Street. “We are positive about it, but until it’s done, it’s not done.”

Greene was fired after the PHA board learned of sexual harassment complaints that cost the organization about $900,000 in settlement payments.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is auditing the agency. The FBI is also engaged in a criminal investigation.

Greene is suing PHA, alleging breach of contract.