The Chicago Housing Authority decided this week to hire the head of D.C.’s public housing agency.
The announcement was messy: Chicago’s mayor publicly questioned the validity of the hiring process, and D.C. lawmakers said they had no idea DCHA Executive Director Keith Pettigrew was planning to leave.
Pettigrew, a D.C. native who grew up in the Barry Farm public housing complex, has spent his two years in the role touting his plans to rehabilitate the city’s aging public housing stock, prioritize safety and make the agency more transparent, responsive and better able to distribute the tens of thousands of housing subsidies the agency administers. But housing advocates and lawmakers said Pettigrew’s departure will kneecap these efforts, leaving goals unmet and projects unfinished.
“The people living in DCHA communities have been let down before. Repeatedly. They have endured poor living conditions, unresponsive maintenance, and years of dysfunction at an agency that exists specifically to serve them,” D.C. Council member Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large) wrote in a statement. White oversees DCHA as head of the council’s housing committee.
DCHA did not respond to a request to interview Pettigrew for this story.
Several D.C. lawmakers said they did not know Pettigrew was in the running for a job elsewhere until they saw a Chicago news story announcing his appointment.
White, in a statement, said he was “disappointed” by the manner in which he found out. Ward 5 Councilman Zach Parker (D) posted on X, “Who knew he was leaving? … That’s bad business and messy. Beware Chicago.”
Who knew he was leaving?! Everybody I’ve talked to just found out. That’s bad business and messy. Beware, Chicago.
Cc: @Brandon4Chicago https://t.co/Poa6CkZj7B
— Zachary Parker (@ZacharyforWard5) March 17, 2026
For years, DCHA has been under scrutiny from residents, lawmakers and even the federal government as it has struggled to keep pace with rising rates of homelessness and an affordable housing crisis. The agency has for years been grappling with long-standing issues including ineffectively issuing housing vouchers, lengthy delays in redeveloping multiple public housing complexes, and managing its occupancy rates and a waitlist that has been full for more than a decade.
Pettigrew took over DCHA in late 2023, after former executive director Brenda Donald left the department amid a federal investigation into allegations of fraud and favoritism. He promised a bright future, and pointed to his own upbringing as a public housing resident as inspiration to create a public housing agency that treats its residents with dignity and respect.
“When Keith Pettigrew was hired, there was real reason for optimism. He came with credentials. He came with a personal story — a D.C. native, a product of public housing himself,” White said. “Now, less than a year and a half after releasing [a three-year] plan, he is leaving for a larger agency and a city he described in his own application as one he ‘loves.’ I understand ambition. But DCHA residents do not get to move on to the next opportunity. They live with the consequences of every false start, every leadership transition, every reset.”
Daniel del Pielago, a lead organizer for the affordable housing advocacy nonprofit group Empower DC, said residents’ belief that public housing conditions might improve is undercut every time a director departs without making good on the promises the agency has made.
“When this happens, residents, their clients, are the one left holding the bag,” del Pielago said. “They still have not fixed a lot of the day-to-day stuff — making sure people can use their vouchers; making sure the maintenance tickets are working, making sure people can get leased up without having issues in the process. … There is no plan in sight to fix these issues.”
Pettigrew was received warmly by public housing residents, who saw elements of their own story in his, advocates said. They were “rooting for him” said Ashlei Shutlz, a supervising attorney in Legal Aid D.C.’s housing division.
“My hope is that’s not a unique quality, and that we can find it again in a future director,” she said. “But some of those things you can’t quite get from a résumé and you don’t always know if it’s going to click.”
Bruce Purnell, who oversees the nonprofit group the Love More Movement, said Pettigrew led “with humanity” and sought to bring people together.
“He wants people to know that they’re valued in the community,” Purnell said. He added he was sad to hear of Pettigrew’s departure and hopes that the agency’s appetite for a community-centered approach doesn’t vanish.
“If it was a team, he’d be a franchise player in this game,” Purnell said. “You don’t want to lose your franchise player.”
Pettigrew’s reception in Chicago has been complicated. Although the Chicago Housing Authority’s board voted Pettigrew in, the mayor has refused to recognize Pettigrew’s appointment.
Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) has not commented on Pettigrew, specifically, though his office has cast doubt on the validity of the board’s process. In a statement earlier this week, Chicago officials wrote: “The Mayor’s Office is reviewing the resolution passed today by the CHA Board. There were a number of irregularities in the lead up to the vote which require further evaluation.”
Pettigrew’s contract, including when he will start at the Chicago agency, is still being negotiated, Chicago Housing Authority spokesman Matthew Aguilar told the Chicago Sun Times.
Pettigrew is expected to sign onto a four-year term.
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