By Liz Lape
PEORIA, Ill. (25 News) – Following the Peoria Housing Authority’s CFO termination on Tuesday and the announcement of the CEO’s resignation, tenants and former employees have spoken out about what they claim is a troubled workplace.
PHA is responsible for operating thousands of family homes in Peoria, including public, section eight, and affordable housing.
On Tuesday, the organization announced that CFO Abdiel Brown had been terminated due to what they called “financial irregularities within Authority funds.” The matter is now being investigated by Peoria Police.
Wednesday morning, the agency sent out another press release explaining that the CEO, Armeca Crawford, had stepped down on Feb. 6 due to an unrelated matter.
Marguerita Williams, a PHA tenant, tells 25 News that she has noticed issues with the organization for years. She claimed that after graduating from a Family Self-Sufficiency Program in August 2025, she was supposed to receive thousands of dollars from the agency.
“Right now, as today, they still have not paid me,” Williams said. “They’re not going to pay me, and I see why now.”
Wiliams said PHA leaders told her to give them her bank account information, which is when she said she started noticing money was missing. Williams said Crawford told her last year that she was owed upwards of $18,000.
“I just pray no one else has to go through this, when you’re already struggling and trying to make ends meet, on a fixed income,” she said. “They know this.”
One former employee, who has chosen to go by the name Tate, also claimed she saw financial mismanagement during her time employed with the agency. She said Riverwest Apartment Complex tenants have experienced years of maintenance issues, including people falling through outside wooden decks.
“Running any apartment, you’re going to need light bulbs, you’re going to need necessities, toilet handles,” Tate said. “There was nothing there, and that indicated to me that the money was being mishandled.”
Tate also complained of inappropriate workplace behavior, like being asked for sexual favors by coworkers.
“I went through so much at that job that I moved out of town because I could not take it,” she said. “I’ve never been at a place where that’s all they talked about.”
Another former employee said she believes money was mismanaged at PHA, preventing the agency from achieving its primary goal of moving families forward. She said she struggled to get anything accomplished for tenants, going to “war” for the families she helped serve.
“A healthy environment creates a healthy life and healthy families. That helps push families forward,” the former employee said. “The experience I saw was that they weren’t actually helping push families forward.”
Williams and Tate both said they want to see people from within the Peoria community take over leadership at the organization. They said people from Peoria will be able to better understand and care for the people the PHA serves.
“I don’t care what color they are, do right by people. When you do right by people, blessings come,” Williams said. “They need to be held accountable. Anybody that’s in federal and they’re doing wrong by people, these are federal grants, you’re supposed to do right.”
“I think they need to do a clean sweep. The whole office,” Tate said. “Everybody who’s in office needs to have a clean sweep.”
25 News reached out to the newly appointed interim CEO of PHA, Damon Duncan, for more comment on details regarding the CFO’s termination and the future of the organization, but he has yet to respond.
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