Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the nomination of Eugene "Gene" Jones Jr. as acting CEO at the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) on Saturday.
CHA CEO Michael Merchant is vacating the position to pursue other endeavors.
Jones, the CHA's chief property officer, previously served as the Toronto Community Housing Corporation's CEO and has worked for other public housing authorities in several U.S. cities including Detroit, San Francisco, Indianapolis and Kansas City.
According to the CHA's website, Jones "has more than 35 years of service and experience in housing operations, resident services, accounting and finance, auditing, maintenance, new construction, capital construction and Housing Choice Voucher programs."
The CHA is working on its goal of having housing vouchers distributed to over 43,000 applicants by the end of this year. Among other projects, the agency also says it plans to put $240 million toward building affordable housing units in 2015.