Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said he didn't force out Renee Lewis Glover, the nationally-recognized head of the Atlanta Housing Authority, and believes she should be allowed to exit gracefully.
But Reed said Glover's departure after 17 years leading one of the largest agencies in Georgia is due. He wants a change of strategy -- including a tighter focus on Atlanta's poorest citizens -- new leadership and a detailed public audit of the $250 million agency to make sure it's operating efficiently.
"This organization is not adjusting to the fiscal times and the challenges that working people and homeless people were facing," Reed said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In announcing her plan to leave the housing authority, Glover earlier this month said new board members appointed by Reed made it clear that they would like to have a change in leadership. That is fully within the prerogative of the mayor and the board, Glover noted in a statement.
This week, Reed said he had no interest in getting into a public debate about Glover's legacy. It is unclear how the clash will affect more than 21,000 families the housing authority serves.
Glover, who declined to comment for this story, is nationally acclaimed as a housing pioneer. Under her leadership, the Atlanta Housing Authority demolished large housing projects and moved more than 10,000 families out of distressed projects, where many of them were surrounded by squalor.
Those moves were controversial at times, with critics saying the agency created more homelessness. But the plan to move needy families into mixed-income communities won out. The Atlanta Housing Authority, once in danger of being taken over by the federal government for a variety of misdeeds, became known under Glover for the "Atlanta Model."
Glover was name-dropped by U.S. senators. Her agency has stacked up a decade's worth of clean reviews by independent financial auditors.
"We like to see innovation," said Ed Jennings, regional administrator of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds the housing authority. "They have been a high-performing agency for over a decade."
But behind the scenes, all was not well. Reed said his trouble with Glover started when what he called the housing authority's "lame duck board" awarded Glover a five-year contract for a salary of $325,00 per year, with potential bonuses of $35,000 per year. That contract -- Glover's fifth with the housing authority -- took effect on July 1, 2010, before Reed had an opportunity to make appointments to the board.
Reed took that as an attempt to avoid his process for opening up various agencies for new leadership. The mayor of Atlanta does not directly appoint the head of the housing authority, which is authorized by state law. But he can appoint members of the board, and said he expected to give some input.
"Once that contract was passed by that board, she had set the tone for what that relationship would be," Reed said. "Once you do that, don't call me and say, ‘I'd like to have a cup of coffee.'"
Shirley Franklin, who served as Atlanta’s mayor from 2002 to 2010, said Glover worked well with a number of mayors, including herself.
"I know she’s well-respected for what she’s done," Franklin said." She won over some of her toughest critics in the early years. She's worked well with prior boards. This doesn't mean she should stay in the position forever. It does mean she's gained the respect of many over the years."
Reed said he wanted the agency's mission to be redefined to focus more aggressively on the homeless and working families. He said the city does not need to build large housing projects, but he expressed concern over the agency's aggressive use of housing vouchers. The housing authority has increased the number of families receiving Housing Choice Vouchers by about four-fold since 1994, when Glover took over.
"The Atlanta Housing Authority today is basically an apartment management company for middle-income people that has a voucher program," Reed said. "I do not believe that the Atlanta Housing Authority focuses enough on working people and homeless people."
Still, huge numbers of the housing authority's clientele are poor. As of June 30, more than 68 percent of the households in the housing authority's programs have annual incomes of $20,500 or less. More than 92 percent earn $34,150 or less for a family of four, according to the agency's documents.
For those people, the agency's use of vouchers carries risks, said Harvey Newman, chair of the public management and policy department at Georgia State University.
"In many places, it's created nearly entire communities of housing voucher residents," Newman said. "They're living in older apartment complexes. Now, you don't have anyone looking out for their maintenance and safety. They're on they're own."
Reed said he had no immediate plans to force a change at the housing authority before Glover announced her impending departure last Monday. That happened without his knowledge, he said.
"I’m walking around here, then my phone melts because of the number of people who are calling me, telling me I've forcing her out," Reed said in an interview at City Hall. "I said, ‘How in the world am I forcing her out when she’s having a conversation to take a new position and to receive a severance package?"
Reed said he had not spoken with Glover about her plans.
"I have not planned to, and I would not like to," he said. "The relationship is where it is."
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