Mayor Johnson looks to oust CHA board chair after agency votes in new CEO

Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Housing Authority Board Chair Matthew Brewer’s fight over the future of the city's housing agency escalated Wednesday when Johnson said he removed Brewer from his board chair role, while Brewer said he isn’t going anywhere.

The CHA board recently voted 7-2 to approve the appointment of Keith Pettigrew as the agency’s new CEO for a four-year term. Pettigrew is currently the executive director of the District of Columbia Housing Authority. The CHA has been without a CEO for 16 months.

The vote marked a win for the board over Johnson, who pushed for the appointment of mayoral ally, retired Ald. Walter Burnett.

Johnson said Wednesday that he also removed Brewer from his role as the CHA’s interim operating chairman, but it's unclear if the mayor followed the proper procedures to do so. Brewer argues the mayor hasn’t.

The CHA board’s bylaws state the board chair is designated by the mayor and a “filing of the Certificate of Appointment with the Recorder of Deeds of Cook County,” whose responsibilities fall under the Cook County clerk’s office.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the clerk’s records show no documents related to Johnson’s appointment of CHA Board Commissioner Jawanza Malone as the new chair.

Johnson also can’t boot Brewer as operating chairman since that decision is controlled by the board, Brewer said.

“They are wrong on the facts, and they are wrong on the law,” Brewer told the Sun-Times. “If this is just an attempt to bully and scare us to back down, I don’t think it is going to happen.”

Johnson insisted he was on firm ground acting against Brewer, arguing in part that Pettigrew's appointment wasn't legal because proper notice of the resolution to appoint a new CEO at the March 17 meeting was not made. Brewer's "stewardship of this process disenfranchised both fellow commissioners and the communities the CHA serves," Johnson said. "CHA residents deserve leadership decisions that are transparent, lawful, and grounded in their lived experiences, not a process that prioritizes expediency over accountability."

Chicago's mayor has historically chosen the leader of the CHA, with the board vote typically serving as a rubber stamp of the mayor’s candidate of choice.

Commissioners Jawanza Malone and Debra Parker voted no last month on Pettigrew's appointment, while Commissioner Mildred Harris abstained. Brewer has asked the mayor to remove Parker from the board, after the agency’s independent inspector general investigated her, and a hearing officer for the CHA last month determined that she committed what the officer described as fraud.

The CHA board members who voted to appoint Pettigrew reaffirmed their commitment on Wednesday in a public statement: “The public vote held during the Board meeting on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, regarding the appointment of Keith Pettigrew as chief executive officer, was not a unilateral action by Operating Chairman Brewer; rather, it reflected a duly recognized and transparent vote of the Board. Board members were informed of Mr. Pettigrew’s selection, and the affirmative public votes of seven board members confirmed the appointment.”

The board has been unable to consider Burnett, whom many CHA residents opposed, as a candidate until the agency receives conflict waivers approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The waiver request were waiting on a final determination from staff at HUD’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Burnett’s apparent conflicts of interest, according to the CHA and HUD, were with his 30-year record as alderman and longtime ownership of properties rented to housing voucher holders. Since 2007, Burnett and his wife have collected more than $260,000 as CHA voucher landlords.

Johnson’s break with the CHA board is part of his ongoing power struggle with sister agencies that used to be an extension of the mayor’s power.

Johnson initially retained Pedro Martinez, the Chicago Public Schools CEO appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, then fired him after he refused to authorize a short-term, high-interest loan to reimburse the city for a $175 million pension payment for nonteaching school employees.

The Chicago Board of Education that included Johnson’s own appointees sided with Martinez and resigned en masse.

The CTA board also defied Johnson. When embattled CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. resigned, the mayor tried to install Chief Operating Officer John Roberson as Carter’s permanent replacement, but the board refused. Roberson ended up leaving City Hall for a job as executive vice president for the Obama Presidential Center.

The mayor also offered the CTA job to state Rep. Kam Buckner, but the former mayoral challenger who specializes in mass transit issues turned it down. As a result, Nora Leerhsen has served as interim CTA president for nearly 18 months.

If Johnson doesn’t name a permanent CTA president by the June 1 deadline established as part of the Illinois General Assembly’s mass transit bailout, he will lose the power to make that choice. It’ll be made for him by the newly created Northern Illinois Transportation Authority that replaces the RTA board.