HUD has tried to encourage more tenant activism by requiring, for example, that at least one seat on the authority's board be reserved for a tenant. Mayor Wood expanded the board to provide two more seats for tenants, but when Cavanagh restructured the board, he eliminated all but one tenant. Tenants protested the move, but the board of aldermen went along with Cavanagh. Ledford Austin, the former public housing director with HUD's regional office, said he worried that the mayor was depriving tenants of a voice in operations. He even asked his legal staff to look into whether HUD could challenge the restructuring, but the move was legal, Austin said.
Residents have to be represented on the board.
The whole theory is that the board gets feedback from residents. Tenants can push for change, but oversight still rests with HUD and local officials. Housing experts say that HUD does not have the staff to review every move the housing authority makes. It's a casualty of the effort to reduce the size of government at the national level. That puts an even greater burden on local officials to take a more active oversight role.