Daley appoints new head of Chicago Housing Authority

A former resident of public housing has been named the chief executive officer of the Chicago Housing Authority.

Forty-eight-year-old Lewis A. Jordan replaces Sharon Gist Gilliam, a troubleshooter for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, in the $185,000-a-year job.

In accepting the post Tuesday, Jordan said his his primary goal will be completion of the CHA's $1.6 billion Plan for Transformation.

The plan calls for the dismantling of CHA high-rises and their replacement with mixed-income communities. The plan was to be completed in 2010, but is now five years behind schedule, in part because of federal funding cuts.

Jordan spent the first two years of his life at Rockwell Gardens, nearly two decades in management at Allstate Insurance and the last five years running the Rockford and Cook County housing authorities.