Tyrone Garrett, the director of the D.C. Housing Authority, is out of a job.

The agency’s board of commissioners — which had until the end of the month to decide whether to renew his contract — and Garrett have decided to part ways, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

Garrett, who has served in the leadership position since October 2017, hinted the end was near in a weekend posting on LinkedIn, writing that he was “looking for a new role” and asking his followers for “any opportunities, advice or connections.” DCist/WAMU viewed the post before it was removed.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Housing Authority said Garrett’s last day will be June 18. The board will meet Thursday to select an interim director.

“I want to thank the leadership and the DCHA staff for allowing me the opportunity to serve these past four years. I believe DCHA is on the cusp of significant opportunities that will ensure the wellbeing of families within the District. In partnership with the hard working staff and Board of Commissioners of DCHA, we have made tremendous progress and many rehabilitation, redevelopment and human capital improvement initiatives are in the pipeline. I wish everyone all the best,” said Garrett in a statement.

His departure comes as significant challenges remain at the Housing Authority, an independent agency charged with managing public housing and housing assistance programs for roughly 50,000 low-income D.C. residents. It also comes less than two years after Garrett unveiled a controversial plan to partner with developers to renovate or rebuild 2,610 of the units in worst condition across 14 public housing sites, as well as another plan to redevelop the agency’s well-located headquarters in NoMa — a proposal critics said didn’t include enough affordable housing.

Garrett endured a rocky relationship with both Housing Authority employees and board members over his nearly four year tenure. Multiple high-ranking staffers departed the agency, including its general counsel, auditor, communications director, and longtime head of its housing voucher program. Employees were also rankled when Garrett was named as a defendant in a 2019 lawsuit against the public housing agency he formerly ran, which alleged that Garrett fostered an unhealthy work environment and enabled predatory behavior of his then-chief of staff.

When Garrett came to D.C. after 15 years working with public housing in New Jersey, he faced an agency with declining federal funding and a growing number of properties in severe disrepair. Within a year of his arrival, he warned city officials that nearly one-third of the public housing stock was at risk of being uninhabitable, following up months later with an estimate that bringing all 8,000 units back to good condition would cost $2.2 billion over 17 years.

But despite receiving some funding from the D.C. Council, some of the most needed repairs didn’t go to plan. A 2020 report from the D.C. Auditor found that the agency had failed to rectify lead paint hazards in many of its public housing units by federally mandated benchmarks. More recently, an internal audit found $1.3 million in wasted funds at the Housing Authority; the City Paper reported that the internal auditor who uncovered the waste later resigned after she said she faced intimidation and retaliation. And in June 2020, D.C.’s own attorney general took the extraordinary step of suing the Housing Authority over conditions at 10 of its properties.

At one point in 2019, Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau introduced a bill that would have brought the Housing Authority under the auspices of the mayor, a step she said was needed to better control the agency’s spending — especially as the council was giving it money to repair public housing.

Housing activists also routinely clashed with Garrett, claiming he bungled the management of the Housing Authority’s voucher and public housing programs as plans to redevelop some complexes languish. “I’m embarrassed, I’m saddened, I’m angered, and I’m hurt,” one public housing resident told DCist/WAMU last July about conditions in her building. “But you still want to take our money for rent and not improve the conditions. You know, it’s not fair.”

This story was updated with an official statement from Garrett.