Mayor Brandon Johnson’s pick to lead the Chicago Housing Authority, retired Ald. Walter Burnett, and his wife, Darlena Williams-Burnett, have been paid over $260,000 as housing voucher landlords for the agency since 2007, according to a Sun-Times’ analysis of public records.
The Burnetts have had at least 10 contracts for properties rented to CHA voucher holders, including two ongoing contracts and five contracts that were active during Williams-Burnett’s tenure as an employee at the housing authority.
The voucher payments to Burnett and his wife represent apparent conflicts of interest, according to both CHA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The business dealings serve as a potential roadblock to his appointment to lead the nation’s third-largest public housing authority.
The vouchers are through the Housing Choice Voucher Program, also known as Section 8, the nation’s primary subsidized housing initiative. The program allows housing authorities to provide subsidies to low-income residents to find housing in the private market. Voucher holders typically pay about 30% of their income toward rent, with housing authorities covering the rest.
The CHA board’s vote to appoint Burnett as CEO has already been delayed as HUD is requiring the housing authority to submit at least two waivers related to Burnett’s conflicts of interest — one for his involvement in CHA’s voucher program and another for his work as an alderman. The Chicago HUD office will then need to review the waiver requests, send its recommendation for the waivers to HUD’s Washington, D.C., headquarters for additional review and send a formal response to CHA.
Burnett responded to a Sun-Times phone call seeking comment with a text Thursday declining to comment, saying he is “just a private citizen.”
CHA did not make an official available for an interview. The housing authority said in a statement that it “acknowledged and disclosed potential conflicts surrounding the proposed CEO appointment” to HUD.
“We are continuing to move this process forward in full compliance with all HUD and local requirements,” the statement said.
The mayor’s office and HUD did not respond to requests for comment.
Williams-Burnett disclosed her and her husband’s role in the housing voucher program to CHA at least between 2014 to 2018 when employed at the agency, according to public records. She previously worked for the housing authority as deputy chief of fleet and facilities in the general services department and violated CHA’s ethics policy in 2022, the same year she resigned, public records show.
Burnett disclosed ownership of 13 properties in his Cook County statement of economic interests, filed with the Cook County Clerk in April 2025. There is no mention of his connection to the CHA voucher program.
It’s unclear if CHA ever requested a waiver for conflicts of interest from HUD before or during Williams-Burnett’s employment at the housing authority, as well as during Burnett’s 30-year tenure as alderman.
The Burnetts and CHA likely have been and would be in violation of the contract between HUD and the housing authority that stipulates how CHA obtains its funding from the federal agency, according to a HUD official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
The contract prohibits CHA from entering into business agreements with “any present or former member or officer” and any employee of the public housing authority, as well as “any public official, member of a governing body, or State or local legislator, who exercises functions or responsibilities with respect to the programs.” For an official to be eligible for a CHA contract, they must wait a year after ceding any of these employment statuses. Burnett resigned from City Council in July.
If HUD was to conduct a formal review of the Burnetts’ housing voucher contracts and found them and CHA in violation of its HUD funding contract, the HUD official said the federal agency could issue sanctions against CHA for ineligible expenditures. The sanctions could force the housing authority to pay back HUD through non-federal dollars for all payments made to the Burnetts.
On Aug. 27, CHA interim board chair and now operating chairman Matthew Brewer sent a letter to William Dawson III, HUD’s Chicago public housing office director, outlining Burnett’s potential conflicts of interest.
Burnett and his wife have an “ownership interest in” three properties that are occupied by CHA housing voucher holders, the letter stated, a copy of which was obtained by the Sun-Times.
The Burnetts initiated the process to have the vouchers instead be administered by the Housing Authority of Cook County, the letter said. Brewer wrote that CHA didn’t believe Burnett’s time as an alderman constituted a conflict of interest.
In Dawson’s reply requesting waivers on Sept. 5, he asked for more details on the Burnetts’ role in the housing voucher program, including any former conflict of interest waivers requested by or granted to CHA for the couple.
It’s not the first time the Burnetts have raised questions. Last year, the Sun-Times found the couple were past due on about $2,900 in city water bills for an East Garfield Park rental property. At the time, Burnett cited a new meter installation, saying the city’s water department asked them to hold off on paying until it could check the couple’s high bill.
CHA has been without a permanent CEO for 10 months, following former CEO Tracey Scott’s departure. Interim CEO Angela Hurlock stepped down Sept. 2, with Brewer assuming the role of operating chairman the same day.
Brewer, who works full time as an attorney, has said he will be at the housing authority regularly so long as he is in the top role. He has been on the board since 2013.
Eight other high-ranking officials have left the agency in the last year, including three officials who were fired.
CHA board commissioner and resident leader Francine Washington said at the recent board meeting that residents are being “half-served.”