Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Board of Commissioners Approves Advancing Keith Pettigrew as Agency’s Next CEO

Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Board of Commissioners Approves Advancing Keith Pettigrew as Agency’s Next CEO


Pettigrew, currently the Executive Director of District of Columbia Housing Authority, is a nationally renowned public housing executive with a proven track record of leading complex institutional transformation and expanding affordable housing opportunities

CHICAGO (March 17, 2026) - Today, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Board of Commissioners approved a resolution authorizing its Operating Chairman, Matthew Brewer, to negotiate and execute a contract with veteran public housing administrator Keith Pettigrew to serve as the agency’s next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Pettigrew was a top candidate identified by CHA’s CEO Selection Committee following a nationwide search.


Pettigrew is a nationally renowned public housing executive with more than 30 years of progressive leadership experience. He is currently the Executive Director of the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA), a position he has held since November 2023. From 2017 through 2023, he served as the CEO and President of Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Previous roles include Deputy General Manager for Operations for the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and various senior leadership positions in the District of Columbia government.


“Keith Pettigrew is a dynamic, results-oriented leader with a proven track record of tackling tough challenges at large housing authorities,” Brewer said. “His commitment to putting residents first, combined with his technical know-how, will make him a powerful champion for families across Chicago. Keith understands both the challenges and the opportunities facing CHA and he is the right leader for the agency at this moment.”


In today’s resolution, CHA’s Board cited Pettigrew’s strong track record of transforming large public housing agencies and expanding affordable housing access for thousands of residents. In his time at DCHA,

Pettigrew developed a three-year recovery plan that has led to measurable progress, including significant increases in utilization across both the public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs. The plan created a clear roadmap to improve performance across the agency and was the result of a comprehensive assessment Pettigrew and his staff undertook following a critical HUD report detailing significant operational deficiencies and a decade of decline that predated him.


In Alexandria, Pettigrew is credited with significantly reducing turnaround time for vacant units and consistently maintaining a vacancy rate below 3%. He created and implemented a successful strategy to reposition the agency’s portfolio and increased the number of affordable housing units through the development of a $32 million multifamily project.


At the Housing Authority of New Orleans, Pettigrew helped lead a widely acclaimed turnaround, moving the agency out of HUD’s troubled designation in less than three years while significantly improving operational performance. Pettigrew also strengthened the Housing Choice Voucher Program by rapidly increasing utilization, including issuing 4,000 vouchers in six months, and improving public housing occupancy and unit turnaround times to ensure more families could access stable housing.


In addition to operational leadership, Pettigrew has advanced large-scale redevelopment and housing expansion initiatives through strategic partnerships with local governments, developers and community stakeholders. He has overseen complex housing portfolios serving tens of thousands of residents, managing hundreds of millions of dollars in annual operations while advancing mixed-income redevelopment, public-private partnerships, and repositioning strategies such as RAD and Section 18 conversions.


CHA launched a national search for a permanent CEO in spring 2025. More than 100 candidates expressed interest in the position. A CEO Search Committee, comprised of Board Members (including the President of CHA’s Resident Leadership Council) and government partners, evaluated the candidates and selected the finalists, including Pettigrew.

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