An affordable housing consultant will step in as the interim director of D.C.’s troubled public housing agency on August 1, after the DC Housing Authority’s board of commissioners held a long-awaited vote on Wednesday to authorize the contract.

The new interim director, Dorian Jenkins, comes to the DC Housing Authority from consulting firm Nan McKay, a company with deep ties to public housing authorities across the country. Nan McKay worked closely with the DC Housing Authority to reconfigure its operations after an audit of the agency from the federal housing department highlighted dozens of structural issues with DCHA’s operations.

DCHA’s board of commissioners cited Jenkins’ familiarity with the report from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development — and the subsequent operational changes initiated by outgoing DCHA director Brenda Donald — as part of his relevant experience for the job.

Forestalling criticism of his appointment, Jenkins said in brief remarks to the public on Wednesday that he’s “never been a lame duck, warm-the-seat type of guy.”

“That’s not what the board wanted, and it’s not who I am,” he said.  “We’re going to make things happen. That is my promise to you.”

Jenkins will wrestle with an agency in flux, as it prepares to reconfigure and open its public housing waiting list for the first time in a decade; train staff on new administrative procedures for its housing voucher program; and lobby HUD to redevelop some of its oldest and least-safe housing complexes.

According to Jenkins’ public resume, he previously served as the interim director of the Memphis, Tenn. public housing authority, and has overseen contract administration for the Chicago and Miami-Dade County public housing authorities. He also served as the deputy executive director for Los Angeles County’s public housing authority.

Raymond Skinner, chairman of DCHA’s board of commissioners,  said Wednesday that Jenkins’ contract would allow him to remain in the job for up to six months. (A press release announcing Jenkins’ appointment said his annualized salary would amount to $275,000.)

Skinner told the board that roughly 50 people submitted applications so far for the permanent director role, whose search is being managed by a third-party recruiting firm; Skinner added that the board’s executive search committee hopes to winnow the field down to two or three applicants, who will be subject to an interview by the full board, ideally by the end of August. Skinner said he hoped to name the agency’s new permanent director by November.

Outgoing executive director Brenda Donald, whose last day will be July 31, did not appear at Wednesday’s meeting, which would have been her last before departing. Donald’s contract with DCHA isn’t up until the end of September, but the longtime D.C. government employee announced in early May — amid questions of impropriety over being awarded a more than $40,000 bonus — that she would leave the agency sooner.

In an agency that has become something of a professional revolving door, Jenkins will become the fourth person to helm DCHA in some capacity since then-director Adrianne Todman departed in 2017.