He's Back: Carl Greene Went AWOL Over “Embarrassment”

PHA head apologized "to the world" for recent allegations and going missing

The director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority says “humiliation” over his finances is what caused him to drop out of sight for more than a week and says that he's taking steps to make things right.

In his first interview since his bank foreclosed on his mortgage and he disappeared from friends, colleagues and the public eye, Carl Greene tells the Philadelphia Inquirer that he retreated to his $615,000 city townhouse after the news broke last week.

Greene hid out in his townhouse, stopped going to work and didn't take calls from worried friends before eventually releasing a statement saying he'd take a leave of absence.

"I just felt personal humiliation and embarrassment over my finances," Greene, 53, said in a 45-minute telephone interview with the Inquirer. "I was very stressed out about it and needed a couple of days to gather myself."

Greene tells the paper that things began unraveling when the Internal Revenue Service filed a $52,000 tax lien on the home in December for unpaid taxes on non-PHA income.

Greene says he's covered the overdue mortgage payments. He told the Inquirer on Friday that he offers his “most humble apologies to the world.”

In the wake of the recent news of Greene’s financial failings, other reports have come out of sexual harassment suits against the PHA head and stories of employees being forced to fete their boss multiple times a year.

"Nobody said there's a connection between my personal failings and my PHA stewardship," Greene said.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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