Defiant Housing Chief Won’t Step Down Early

Evan Becker, embattled head of the San Diego Housing Commission, vowed Tuesday to stay on the job until his contract expires later this year and challenged the city’s authority to keep him away from the job by forcing him to take accumulated leave and vacation time.

The City Council informed Becker Monday that his one-year contract as executive director of the commission will not be renewed when it ends on July 31. Council members also voted to force Becker, 44, to take any vacation or leave time he has coming before the last day of his contract, in order to keep him away from the commission’s offices.

“I’m not assuming that I have to take any (vacation or leave time), or that it’s something that can be forced on me,” Becker said Tuesday.

The full reason for Becker’s dismissal remained unknown Tuesday. Council members ignored requests for interviews about Becker’s dismissal.

Becker, who argued that the manner in which he was terminated violated his contract with the city, also refused to discuss the matter fully. He would only say that “the fundamental problem with us (Becker and the council) was interpersonal.”

On Monday, some council members complained that Becker and the commission staff had failed to keep the City Council fully informed of some low income housing programs. However, attorneys for the city said the council was not required to tell Becker why they were letting him go because the city was ending his contract, not firing him.

The council, which voted unanimously to terminate Becker’s contract, also stripped him of all supervisory authority while he waits for the contract to end. On Tuesday, Becker repeated an earlier argument that stripping him of authority over the commission staff violates the terms of his contract, but said he will abide by the council’s order.

“I stated Monday how I think it relates to my employment agreement, but I’m going to comply,” Becker said. “But the contract backs up the notion that it’s a violation of the terms and logic would support that as well.”

Becker said he was disappointed that Councilman Bob Filner joined other council members in voting to terminate his contract, because he thought Filner had been a strong supporter. “Filner was a strong, articulate supporter of what we were doing, including the housing trust fund program,” Becker said.

Becker pointed to that program as one of his biggest achievements during his four years as commission executive director. The program is funded by commercial development fees and a city hotel occupancy tax, Becker said. The money is used for the construction of low income housing units.

“We’re in constant demand to tell other communities how to put a program like that together. It’s one of the most cutting-edge local housing programs to be implemented in the country,” he said.

Becker has had a stormy relationship with the council over the past two years. He had a serious disagreement with Mayor Maureen O’Connor in 1990, when he supported a commission plan to purchase two apartment complexes, for conversion to low income housing, from a reputed Florida mobster.

The apartment units, located in Clairemont and Rancho Penasquitos, are owned by Alvin I. Malnik. O’Connor and other council opponents of the purchase accused Becker and the commission staff of trying to hide Malnik’s role in the deal and of not being forthcoming about details of the sale. The deal eventually fell apart.