Fired PHA exec files suit, claiming the agency is steeped in racism and ageism

The Philadelphia Housing Authority’s former executive general manager of housing operations, Keith Caldwell, has filed a civil lawsuit against his erstwhile employer, alleging that endemic racism and ageism at the subsidized-housing provider were factors in his 2012 termination for “poor performance.”

In the filing late last month, Caldwell describes a scandalous backdrop for the suit — a 2012 investigation into corruption within the agency’s Housing Choice Voucher Program, also known as “Section 8,” which Caldwell oversaw at the time. That year, Caldwell says he presented the PHA’s former director of auditing and compliance, Kelvin Jeremiah, with evidence that a subordinate had skimmed more than $8,000 off of Section 8 tenants’ rental payments. But Caldwell says he was instructed to “do nothing” at the time.

“Basically, if you want to call a spade a spade, [the employee] was stealing money from tenants,” said Caldwell’s attorney, Rick Walton. “The policy is that she should have been terminated, but that’s not what occurred.”

A month later, Jeremiah became the PHA’s executive director, and eight days later, fired Caldwell.

The thieving employee, Sondra Wong Nelson, was also eventually terminated, but not for theft — officially, she was let go for “poor performance,” like Caldwell. In 2013, Nelson was targeted by a U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation and convicted of embezzlement.

However, the 49-page filing also says the fact that an African-American PHA employee “committed the same infraction” and was immediately terminated, while Nelson (described in the suit as “Caucasian”) was not, is evidence of race-based discrimination at the agency. 

Additionally, Caldwell, who is black, was succeeded at PHA by a younger African-American man, who was also disciplined for an unnamed infraction, but not fired. The suit says this is evidence of age discrimination.

The PHA on Tuesday declined to comment on “active litigation and personnel matters.”

Caldwell’s attorney says his client, a 13-year veteran of the PHA, is seeking back vacation time and pension benefits he was denied after his firing — entitlements the PHA has apparently extended to Nelson.

“She shouldn’t be getting vacation pay when she stole money,” said Walton. “I’m not sure how you justify that.”

Walton said that the alleged abuses had not soured Caldwell’s desire to return to the agency.

“He would also like his job back,” said Walton.

The suit describes Caldwell’s meteoric rise under Jeremiah’s predecessor, Michael Kelly, who had been brought in to “clean up” the PHA. In June 2011, Kelly promoted Caldwell from the “asset manager” position he had occupied for 12 years, to the executive position he occupied before his termination. It was a big jump — an asset manager’s starting salary is $50,000, compared to $150,000 for executive managers.

But there are also allusions to “innuendo” that preceded Caldwell’s swift removal from his new post, including accusations by other employees that he “impeded a criminal investigation” and refused to implement changes to the Section 8 program proposed by Jeremiah (the suit says the changes violated HUD regulations). 

In the months leading up to his firing, Caldwell blasted the findings of an audit that criticized the Section 8 program’s management. He called the audit, which was initiated by Jeremiah while he was the agency’s chief auditor, “inflammatory and inaccurate.”

The suit denies Caldwell did anything wrong, and Walton says his client had no history of disciplinary actions, nor was he given any explanation for his firing. 

But sources inside PHA affirmed some of the negative characterizations of Caldwell’s tenure, and said Jeremiah’s instructions to “do nothing” about Nelson’s conduct were due to the then-ongoing U.S. Attorney’s investigation. Two sources at PHA also asserted that Caldwell had used his elevated position to help a female relative, Cortez Marie Caldwell, “cut” the PHA’s notoriously lengthy wait list for housing.

According to official documents, Cortez Caldwell applied for PHA housing in 2006, securing a unit at the agency’s Whitehall Apartment complex in August 2011 — about two months after Caldwell’s promotion to executive manager. PHA sources say the average wait time for a PHA apartment is 10 years.

Walton refused to confirm or deny any relationship between Keith Caldwell and Cortez Caldwell. However, he denied any wrongdoing, pointing to his client’s clean disciplinary record.

Meanwhile, a judge recently declared that Nelson would serve no jail time for her theft of public funds. Jeremiah protested the sentencing and “stormed out of the hearing” moments after the verdict, according to an Inquirer report.