The former director of the DC Housing Authority (DCHA) who resigned last year has filed a lawsuit against the agency, its board and a city council leader, arguing she was forced to step down from her job due to a “pattern of reprisal and retaliation.”
The Washington City Paper reported Brenda Donald resigned from her leadership role in the summer of 2023 after two years on the job. In January 2023, Donald received a $41,250 bonus – the highest payment provided by her contract – weeks after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued an audit that faulted multiple operational problems at the DCHA. The audit specifically called on Donald to begin training designed “to develop capacity in critical [public housing authority] functions including the overall role of the Executive Director.”
Donald was questioned on her bonus by At-Large Councilmember Robert White during the D.C. Council’s annual oversight and budget process last year, but she declined to answer by citing contractual privacy. In her lawsuit that was filed last month, Donald claimed, “When during her public testimony as the Executive Director she refused to answer questions which invaded her statutory and contractual right to privacy, she engaged in protected activity and had the right to be free of reprisal and retaliation for refusing to perform this illegal act.”
The lawsuit also accused White of publicly targeting her on multiple occasions that suggested “criminal behavior” at the DCHA agency while adding her bonus was achieved in a “suspect and likely illegal way.” Donald claimed White’s action resulted in harassment by “a cacophony of abominable, hate messages” and calls for her resignation.
A spokesperson for White declined to comment on Donald’s charges, only acknowledging that he was aware of the lawsuit.
Photo: Brenda Donald, courtesy of DCHA