S.F. housing chief hit by more claims 2nd lawsuit, new reports of startling behavior arise

Henry Alvarez, head of the San Francisco Housing Authority. Henry Alvarez, head of the San Francisco Housing Authority. Photo: Rose Dennis, San Francisco Housing Authority Photo: Rose Dennis, San Francisco Housing Authority Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close S.F. housing chief hit by more claims 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Several members of Mayor Ed Lee's top staff have known for months about a host of complaints by workers at the San Francisco Housing Authority regarding their boss, Henry Alvarez - despite Lee's claim that he didn't know there was a pattern of alleged inappropriate and illegal behavior by his handpicked chief.

Meanwhile, a second lawyer for the Housing Authority has filed a lawsuit against Alvarez, the agency's director, for stripping him of his responsibilities after the lawyer took a two-week paternity leave.

And several other employees at the agency contacted The Chronicle to share their own experiences of mistreatment by Alvarez after Sunday's article focusing on a lawsuit filed against him by an agency lawyer detailing racist language and an effort to get the lawyer fired.

A group of a few dozen Housing Authority employees first took its concerns about Alvarez to the mayor's office in the spring.

The concerns included general intimidation by Alvarez as well as more specific complaints about how long it took to make repairs in units, including up to three weeks to unblock a toilet and six months to prepare vacant units for new tenants, because of cuts in staffing and the lack of a central system for tracking repair requests.

They met May 1 with Bevan Dufty - the mayor's director of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement - and had a few more subsequent meetings. Dufty said he relayed their concerns to Alvarez, city administrator Naomi Kelly and the mayor's chief of staff, Steve Kawa.

Alvarez then agreed to hold office hours.

Dual lawsuits

In October, two agency lawyers - Tim Larsen and Roger Crawford - took their own complaints to Dufty. Both men have since filed lawsuits against the agency and Alvarez.

Larsen, who is white, said Alvarez, who is African American, told him to "stop being so Anglo" and that he "did not have enough kink in his hair." According to the suit, Alvarez passed over Larsen for promotions and tried to fire him after getting wind of Larsen's complaints to the mayor's office.

Crawford filed a separate suit late last month, alleging that Alvarez violated the Family Medical Leave Act and the California Family Rights Act by retaliating against him after he took a family leave in February 2011 and a two-week paternity leave in May 2012. The length and reason for Crawford's first leave are unclear from his claim.

During both leaves, Crawford learned that Alvarez was telling other employees that he'd better "hurry up and return, otherwise he would be subject to a demotion," according to the suit.

When Crawford returned from paternity leave, Alvarez told him he was relieved of many of his duties, stopped talking to him and tried to fire him, the suit says.

A phone call to Crawford's lawyer was not returned. Rose Dennis, a spokeswoman for the Housing Authority, said, "We can't comment on a pending personnel matter."

Dufty said the allegations from Larsen and Crawford prompted an investigation by Micki Callahan, the city's director of human resources, which is ongoing.

Surprise to the mayor

But when The Chronicle asked him last week about the issue, the mayor said he was "surprised to hear there are lawsuits pending" and that he was unaware of repeated complaints about Alvarez's bullying.

"I don't get into personnel matters," Lee said.

As city administrator, in 2008 Lee selected Alvarez to head the Housing Authority despite media reports of similar behavior at his post directing the San Antonio Housing Authority in Texas.

On Monday, as Lee was leaving Twitter headquarters, he said he was too busy to answer questions about Alvarez. Lee then stopped to sign autographs and pose for photographs with passers-by on the sidewalk outside.

The Chronicle learned that Lee officiated at Alvarez's recent wedding.

Christine Falvey, Lee's spokeswoman, said their friendship would "absolutely not" play into the mayor's decision over whether to keep Alvarez in his post.

Asked how the mayor could not have known about the two lawsuits and myriad complaints against Alvarez, Falvey said, "He's not going to prejudge anything that's currently under investigation."

Alvarez's contract expires in June; he currently makes $210,500 a year. Asked whether Alvarez was likely to remain in his post through June, Falvey said, "I have no information that anything other than that would happen."

Workers' complaints

Renita Mason, a property manager at the Alemany and Holly Court public housing developments in Bernal Heights, has worked at the Housing Authority for 20 years. She said she participated in the meetings with Dufty because the agency's maintenance staff doesn't have the manpower or tools to properly deal with residents' complaints.

She said Alvarez had appointed one plumber to do work at five major housing developments, which among them contain more than 1,000 units.

When Alvarez found out she had been at the meeting with Dufty, he called her into agency headquarters, demanding to know the names of everyone who had attended the meeting, she said.

She said she told him that the employees had used their lunch break for the meeting and that she didn't have to tell him who participated. He then visited her office at the Alemany development eight times over the next two weeks, telling her she didn't know how to do her job and demanding that she remove federally mandated posters on the wall that tell tenants how to make complaints, she said.

Alvarez told her, "Take that stuff down - it looks ugly in your office," she said.

Dennis said she had no comment on Mason's account.

She did dispute that it takes six months to rehab a unit. Dennis said it only takes a few weeks to rehab smaller units, though larger ones can take longer.

She said Alvarez has improved the unit occupancy rate from 93 percent to 96 percent over the past fiscal year.

Sandra Campbell, an eligibility worker in the agency's Section 8 division, has worked at the Housing Authority for 22 years. She said Alvarez frequently talks down to employees and has called them "dogs" in meetings.

"I've seen bad ones, but this one is the worst," she said of the agency's string of controversial directors. "At least you were able to talk to those. He's a one-man show."