Federal officials are intensely pursuing Claire Freeman to head the Chicago Housing Authority, but questions still remain over whether her successes as Cleveland’s public housing chief could be repeated at the country’s most troubled housing agency.
The 51-year-old Cleveland native, who turned the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority into a model for the nation, did not announce a decision Friday whether to take the job of executive director of the CHA. Freeman could not be reached for comment Friday.
Although the courting of Freeman has magnified her impressive reputation as a tough administrator, there are sharp differences in the challenges facing the two housing authorities, experts say.
“Cleveland is a smaller authority, which would make it considerably easier (than the CHA) to manage,” said Sunia Zaterman, executive director of the Washington , D.C.-based Council of Large Public Housing Authorities.
For example, Cuyahoga County’s 37 housing developments are called, almost affectionately, “estates,” even by residents. In Chicago, Robert Taylor Homes, the country’s largest housing development, has earned the nickname “The Wall,” a grim reminder of how high-rise developments isolate residents.
There are other contrasts: In Cleveland, none of the public housing buildings are taller than three stories, except for senior housing; only 17,000 residents dwell in about 12,000 units; and gangs have not taken hold of entire buildings. The annual operating budget is about $45 million, about a third of Chicago’s budget, officials said. The CHA has 86,000 residents in 40,000 units, many of them in dozens of high-rise buildings torn by gang violence and drug dealing.
“There are tremendous obstacles to overcome in Chicago,” Zaterman said. “The CHA needs radical surgery.”
But if anyone can pull that off, it’s Freeman, say those who watched her transform the Cuyahoga Authority in just five years.
“Certainly, there’s a difference between the two housing authorities,” said Thomas Marshall, director of public housing for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Cleveland office. But “the leadership skills needed to turn around large authorities are the same,” he said.
Last year, HUD gave the Cleveland agency its Greatest Improved Performance Award, for a number of major accomplishments in Freeman’s tenure.
HUD officials cited the agency’s successful untangling of its finances and record keeping, including recovering $5 million in missing revenues.
HUD also lauded its correction of hundreds of problems uncovered in audits, its achieving a high occupancy rate after years of decline and the refurbishing and renting of 780 units since 1990.
Local officials say Freeman also has launched creative solutions to some intractable problems. For instance, she helped establish two on-site drug rehabilitation centers that allow mothers to stay at home with their children while they are in treatment.
“She’s willing to explore,” said David Sweet, dean of Cleveland State University’s College of Urban Affairs.
And she has allowed architects flexibility in modernizing many of the developments, he said.
When she took over in 1990, architects began redesigning many of the authority’s decades-old, three-story walkups, which were plagued by violence because they had too many entrances and interior corridors.
To increase security and cut down the corridors, units were consolidated and new direct entrances were built.
While civic and political leaders have cheered such improvements, even her biggest fans concede Freeman could not have done it without a lot of money.
“She was fortunate enough to be the beneficiary of federal largesse,” said George Engel, former manager of the Cleveland HUD office. “It’s much easier when you have a lot of money.”
Many credit U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, a Democrat who represents the Cleveland area and who grew up in its public housing.
Until Republicans won control of Congress, he chaired the House Appropriations subcommittee on housing. And since 1990, the authority has received $300 million from HUD for modernization. But, as Engel said: “She used the money well.”
Those familiar with Cleveland’s public housing agree, pointing to the neat exteriors of developments on the city’s near east side, where the bulk of public housing is located. There, visitors can seen garbage-free lawns and freshly painted buildings, with new windows and siding.
And though some critics have charged such changes are only superficial, others credit her for understanding the symbolic importance of these improvements to tenants.
“You have to make believers out of your customers,” one HUD official said.
It’s equally important to win over local power brokers, as Freeman has done, said Frank Jackson, a member of the Cleveland City Council.
“She’s been able to gain support from the mayor, the council and civic and corporate groups,” said Jackson.
That’s been the key to her success, he said, and “if that cannot be done in Chicago, I don’t care who the director is, they’re going to fail.”
