Luxury House of Philadelphia Housing Mogul is in Foreclosure

More than a decade previously Carl Greene the housing mogul of Philadelphia won laurels for changing the declining public housing agency into something new – a place charged with work culture. But very recently the news leaked that his luxury house is in foreclosure. He owes $50,000 to the IRS who has placed a lien on the property. Wells Fargo is foreclosing on the property. These are only few of his many other problems.

The board members of Philadelphia Housing Authority has come to know that so far Greene since 2005 has settled with money a minimum of four cases relating to sexual harassment. A recent one involved a settlement amount of $250,000. Another charge was brought by an interior decorator of his department who said that in lieu of promotion Greene had sought from her sexual gratification. The lawyer of the plaintiff accused Greene of “serial predatory sexual misconduct”. 53 years old Greene is a bachelor.

Greene has by nature been always combative but against this background of the growing storm he has hidden himself away from public focus. He appeared for a brief interview in front of reporters recently but is now on leave and nobody knows when he is expected. At a board meeting last Thursday the directors who had always given him a free hand to operate the agency will now mull over their future course of action regarding Greene.

John F. Street who was previously a mayor and a friend and supporter of Greene for a long time said that he “no longer has a presumption of fitness for the job”. Street elaborated, “We’ve had four cases, at least, where the authority has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars on the basis of conduct by the executive director. How did all this happen without the approval of the board”?

After spending his growing years in a public housing at Washington D.C. he shifted in 1998 to Philadelphia from Detroit. Already in Detroit he had been under a cloud of sexual troubles. Ed Rendell who is now the governor of Philadelphia was then the mayor said that he had engaged Greene even after reviewing the case that was pending against him. The Detroit sexual harassment legal suit’s plaintiff, Gertrude Faye Johnson, complained recently that none had taken note of her warnings about Greene.

Greene has not admitted to the latest sexual harassment suit brought against him. He has blamed the foreclosure on the lien mess of the IRS. He has challenged the allegations of the latter of not having paid his taxes and has also disputed the foreclosure suit filed by Wells Fargo recently.