PHA delivers layoff notices to about 350

By Larry Eichel

Inquirer Senior Writer

Citing severe federal budget cuts, the Philadelphia Housing Authority announced yesterday that it was laying off about 350 employees, roughly 22 percent of its 1,600-person workforce.

PHA Executive Director Carl R. Greene said the layoffs, which he has warned about for months, would do particular damage to the authority's maintenance operations, meaning tenants will face longer waits for repairs.

At a news conference at PHA's Martin Luther King Plaza in South Philadelphia, Greene placed the blame for the layoffs on the Bush administration, which has reduced the budget for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development more than 20 percent during the last six years.

"In Washington, 'the Decider' has decided to abandon the nation's mission of serving the very low income, those people who are elderly and those who are disabled," Greene said.

PHA's police force also will take a major hit. It is slated to lose 20 officers and about 10 other security personnel, leaving it with 50 officers in all.

Greene said that having fewer police officers - and a diminished capability to evict problem tenants promptly - could result in an increase in crime in PHA neighborhoods. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson expressed a similar concern last week.

At the South Philadelphia headquarters of the PHA Police Department, one officer described the mood as "a funeral." The laid-off officers were required to give up their badges and weapons immediately, although they'll remain on the payroll for two weeks.

"Right now, we're trying to weigh our options and see what we can do to preserve jobs," said Rodney Little, president of the Fraternal Order of Housing Police. "Carl Greene and his people act as if public housing is a safe haven for residents, and it's just not true."

Mayor Street said he was working with the local congressional delegation and national Democratic leaders to get more money for housing.

"The layoffs announced today by PHA may be the inevitable result of the Bush administration's ill-advised housing policies, but they need not be permanent," Street said in a statement. "Our administration is committed to fighting these cuts and with the new majorities in control of Congress, we remain optimistic these policies can and will be reversed."

The moves will save PHA about $24 million this year. Once the layoffs are implemented, PHA will have about half as many employees as in 2000.

The cutbacks were prompted by an advisory issued Dec. 28 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington.

In that document, HUD said it would fund all local housing authorities this year at 76 percent of the amount a HUD-commissioned study says is needed for them to operate at an optimal level. Last year, funding was at 86 percent.

HUD officials have said the lower funding level was the result of rising utility costs and Congress' failure last fall to pass a new budget.

"Until Congress passes a new budget, HUD can only fund the [nation's] 3,200 public housing agencies at 76 percent," a department spokeswoman said yesterday.

Other housing authorities in the region, several of which were represented at Greene's news conference, have reacted to the federal funding cut with layoffs of their own. The authority in Newark, N.J., for example, has dismissed 300 workers, a third of its staff.

"We're seeing the demise of public housing in America," said Maria Maio, the housing chief in Jersey City.

Today, PHA will close its offices as part of a "Day of Silence" to protest the federal cuts and demonstrate what it would be like if housing agencies went out of business. Several other authorities, including those in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, are expected to do the same.

For now, Greene said, the cuts will not get in the way of PHA's plans to build 300 units of housing this year in West and North Philadelphia.

But the future offers no guarantees, he said, adding that he may ask the PHA board for authority to begin selling off scattered-site properties - some of which are vacant and expensive to maintain - to raise money for basic operations.

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Contact senior writer Larry Eichel at 215-854-2415 or leichel@phillynews.com.