After months of speculation, Renee Glover resigned Sept. 3 as president and CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority, though she will stay at her post for a 90-day transition period ending Nov. 30.
Glover is leaving AHA before the end of her five-year contract after years of tension with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and his appointees to her board, according to local news reports.
Glover joined AHA in 1994. Under her leadership, the housing authority went from one of the worst in the nation to one of the best, and has earned a “high performing” designation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since 1999. Along the way, Atlanta became a pioneer in its use of the federal HOPE VI program to revitalize distressed public housing.
Affordable Housing Finance named Glover to its Housing Hall of Fame in October 2009.
AHA sponsored the development of 16 mixed-use, mixed-income communities that replaced crumbling, crime-ridden public housing properties. AHA demolished all of its large distressed family housing projects, along with five distressed high-rise buildings, that housed elderly and disabled persons. During the construction process, AHA relocated more than 18,000 families. Today, AHA serves 6,000 more families than in 1994, according to the agency.
The housing authority also created additional mixed-income rental communities by entering into long-term rental subsidy agreements, called Project Rental Agreements, with private sectors owners to reserve and agreed percentage of their units to lease to low-income households.
Joy Fitzgerald, AHA's chief real estate officer, has been named interim CEO.
