Pittsburgh housing authority's new executive director defends professional trip expenses

Ivory Mathews remains under investigation in Oregon for allegedly misusing more than $100,000 in public money for her personal benefit, but that didn't stop the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh from naming her as its new executive director. 

Mathews arrives in Pittsburgh after resigning from a similar position in the city of Portland, under investigation for spending more than $100,000 in public money for personal expenses on trips to professional conferences. 

"All of my travel was professionally related and none of it was personal," Mathews said.  

Mathews has been an officer on public housing trade associations like the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. But in its preliminary findings, the Oregon State Ethics Commission found strong evidence she lavished tens of thousands of dollars in public money on herself in trips to conferences in places like Hawaii, Alaska, Las Vegas and Orlando — often arriving two and three days before and using authority p-cards for hotel stays, meals, car rentals and entertainment. 

"The conferences had pre-leadership meetings," Mathews said. "Those pre-leadership meetings required that I attend early because I sat on those boards in leadership roles." 

But, in its preliminary findings, the ethics commission found no evidence the extra days were used for professional purposes, that she used her stays to accumulate private reward points and routinely exceeded her per diems, choosing top-shelf accommodations like a first-class flight from Portland to Seattle and upgrading her room at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. 

"The facts are I traveled on behalf of the organization professionally," Mathews said.  

Board members said they reviewed the concerns and, in voting to approve her at their last meeting, chose Mathews over three other candidates. They say they accept Mathews' version of events and believe she brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her new job. 

"I think we got someone who has a stellar record in the area of affordable housing and I think just even from early conversations with the O'Connor administration and stakeholders here, there's a lot of excitement about having someone of her talents here in Pittsburgh," said board member Khari Mosley.

The Oregon commission has found preliminarily that Mathews violated ethics standards and has launched a full-blown investigation. But regardless of those findings, she is the executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh and that is not likely to change.