The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s (MPHA) Executive Director Greg Russ has been appointed the new head of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Greg Russ was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio from a list that was hand selected by Trump appointed HUD Secretary, Ben Carson. Greg Russ will be taking over NYCHA in August. According to the New York Times, his starting salary will be an unprecedented $402,000.
This decision comes as NYCHA is making moves to privatize one-third of NYCHA’s housing stock under the Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD). Russ is an expert at privatizing public housing under RAD. He has traveled the country dismantling public housing under RAD and other, similar, federal programs since 1995.
Russ’s track record of dismantling public housing begins in Detroit in 1995. Russ, as an employee of HUD, intervened in Detroit in order to remove the Housing Agency from HUDs, “Troubled Agency” list. In 1995, Detroit had 9,007 available public housing units. Merely two years later, under the “leadership” of Russ, there were only 4,071 units available in the city; https://archives.hud.gov/offices/oig/reports/files/ig851804.pdf.
After Detroit, Russ became the Chief of Staff at the Chicago Housing Authority in a HUD takeover similar to Detroit and now NYCHA. During his time in Chicago, Russ created and signed the “Plan for Transformation” which displaced 17,000 people. The “Plan for Transformation” featured many of the same “promises” that Russ and MPHA have been making in Minneapolis. Including residents “right to return” following rehabilitation projects. Chicago Public Housing residents did not return, and neither will Minneapolis residents if we do not stop MPHA’s plans; http://interactive.wbez.org/cha/.
After dismantling Chicago’s Public Housing and displacing over 17,000 people, Russ moved onto Cambridge. In Cambridge, Russ privatized every single unit of public housing under the RAD program, ending public housing in Cambridge; https://thecity.nyc/2019/06/meet-nychas-new-boss-gregory-russ.html.
Following the mass privatization of Cambridge’s Public Housing, Russ testified to Congress in May of 2016 in favor of RAD. Among other things, Russ advocated for an increased cap on the number of units that could be converted under the program, as well as for initiatives that would make it easier for a PHA to privatize its entire public housing stock; https://tinyurl.com/Russ-Testimony-Congress.
In late December of 2016, Russ was hand selected by the City of Minneapolis to end public housing. DG&PHC released a statement at the time calling Russ the Czar of Privatization and Gentrification; https://www.facebook.com/DefendGlendale/posts/785401878292338? &
www.startribune.com/new-minneapolis-housing-director-brings-expertise-amid-uncertainty/408172976.
Since his first day at MPHA in February 2017, Russ aggressively pushed to privatize Minneapolis’ entire public housing portfolio under the RAD and Section 18 programs with a very expensive public relations campaign. He hired a new team, used unethical tactics and manipulation to silence and demonize public housing leaders who were fighting to stop his privatization schemes through RAD and Section 18. Russ allowed public housing leaders to be bullied, intimidated, physically attacked, racially profiled and attempted to arrest them in order to silence and to make sure the white local media of Minneapolis who normally silences POC voices push his false narrative and PR campaign. Mayor Jacob Frey and the entire City Council watched Russ’s abusive tactics on residents and supported him. Russ and his network of developers managed to get the entire Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey on board with this privatization scheme to end public housing displacing over 15,000 Black, Black Muslims, seniors, families with children and people with disabilities and making sure over 40,000 people that are on 7 to 10 year public housing wait list never have access to public housing. The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Frey’s blind support of Russ and MPHA prove that they are pushing Carson and Trump’s agenda to dismantle and privatize all public housing. Not to mention Greg Russ’s family are one of the largest owners of federally subsidized low-income housing tax credit properties in Minnesota Thies & Talle Inc., with similar investments in other states. Even though DG&PHC called out this blatant conflict of interest and corruption, City Hall was complicit and ignored this ethical violation. To learn more, check out;
Now Russ has been hand-picked again, this time by Carson, to lead NYCHA in the largest RAD conversion in the Nation, and Russ is pushing the exact same program here in Minneapolis. Carson knows Russ has experience ending public housing, especially those that HUD takes over such as Detroit and Chicago. This is why he was chosen.
NYCHA residents do not want Russ to head up NYCHA. They are ready and are mobilizing to stop his privatization plans before he even touches the ground. Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition is the first group to piece together and expose Russ’s national record of privatizing and ending public housing when he came to Minneapolis. Russ may be moving to New York to implement Trump and Carson’s plans, but DG&PHC won’t stop working with our allies in New York City to stop Russ and similar plans around the country and right here at home.
Here is a report by DG&PHC that outlines how Greg Russ planned to use a national pro-gentrification map called Opportunity Atlas Mapping to end public housing and destroy Black and Brown communities in Minneapolis;https://www.dgphc.org/2019/05/03/greg-russ-of-mpha-is-using-opportunity-atlas-mapping-to-displace-public-housing-residents/
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#KeepPublicHousingPublic #BuildMorePublicHousing #NotoRAD #DefendElliotTwins #SayNoToSection18 #StopFrey #StopRuss #SayNoToGentrification #StopPrivatization #DGPHC #PHIMBY #AbolishFaircloth