Mass Resignations Should Trigger Radical Housing Authority Reform

The Mayor’s desire to break from the past should apply with no greater force to a Commission so dominated by cronyism and incompetence that its Executive Director, Gregg Fortner, reportedly recently received a lucrative contract extension with a golden parachute despite his sorry record. If Newsom believed he was limited in changing the Housing Authority Commission out of loyalty to Willie Brown appointees, that excuse is now gone.

I have previously argued that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors should take control of the city’s Housing Authority. Pending that action, thousands of the city’s low-income families continue to live at the mercy of an uncaring, inept, and incompetent mayor-appointed Housing Authority Commission.

While Mayor Newsom has expressed anger over ongoing problems at the SFHA, he has maintained a Commission that has done nothing to improve the situation. Who are these Commissioners who remain out of the limelight while the children in their ultimate care live in unsafe and unhealthy conditions?

Here’s the list: Rev. George Woodruff, Commission President; Neola Gans, Vice President; George R. Brown; Rev. Amos Brown; Irene Yee Riley; Millard Larkin; and Jane Hsu.

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