The D.C. Council on Tuesday postponed a planned vote on an emergency bill that would dissolve the 13-person board of the D.C. Housing Authority and replace it with a nine-person “stabilization and reform” board that proponents said would help steady the agency, which has been reeling since a scathing federal audit in October exposed dozens of deficiencies.

The sudden decision by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson came at 11:30 p.m., more than 12 hours into a marathon legislative day where jockeying over Mayor Muriel Bowser’s bill continued in earnest. While saying that he believed the bill was necessary to address problems at the housing authority, Mendelson conceded that enough lawmakers had raised concerns to make its passage uncertain.

As an emergency bill, it would have needed a super-majority of the 13 members to pass. But with Councilmember Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7) absent in the evening hours because of continuing recovery from a stroke, sources say the bill was likely to have failed.

“I’ve been paying attention to attendance here today. Not everyone is present. I’ve also talked to members and there are still a few members who are feeling some uneasiness,” Mendelson said before withdrawing the bill, which he added would be brought back up for a vote at the council’s last legislative session of the year in two weeks.

As originally written, the emergency bill would have dissolved the current board of DCHA and put in a new seven-member board in its place to lead the response to the damning audit by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The measure, which was introduced last week, drew swift opposition from many housing advocates and some current board members, who decried it as a “power grab” and “hostile takeover.”

Working with Bowser and Councilmember Robert White (D-At Large), Mendelson pushed to amend the bill, increasing the size of the planned new board to nine members and adding more representation for residents of public housing and voucher-holders. In an interview with DCist/WAMU earlier this week, White said he saw the new board as a critical step to preventing a federal takeover of the Housing Authority.

But those changes failed to assuage concerns raised by some lawmakers, especially those who saw the bill as being rushed through. On Tuesday morning, Attorney General Karl Racine spoke out against it, followed thereafter by Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), who said she wanted to maintain the board’s independence and the presence of representatives who live in public housing.

“I worked hard to get this bill in a better place because it’s important that we fix the board and agency urgently. I look forward to making our reforms even stronger,” tweeted White after Mendelson called off the vote.

The postponed vote came at the tail end of the council’s penultimate legislative session of its two-year cycle, with lawmakers casting first votes on dozens of bills. Those included a measure to make Metrobus free of charge within city limits; a proposal creating a bill of employee rights for domestic workers; a plan to increase the number of medical marijuana sellers; a bill that would increase food assistance benefits for low-income residents; and a score of criminal justice and policing bills, including one to reform the troubled crime lab, another to expand the expungement of criminal records, a third to increase council oversight of the D.C. Jail, and yet another that would make police discipline files public.

The council will meet for the last time of the year on Dec. 20, when lawmakers will have to cast final votes on the bills they gave initial approval to on Tuesday. That will be the last opportunity for Bowser and Mendelson to get a vote on the DCHA bill; should they fail, it will have to be reintroduced in the new council session starting in January.