Case Overview

  • The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, unsealed an indictment on June 9, charging a former property supervisor of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) with allegedly accepting over $421,000 in kickbacks to fraudulently award construction and renovation contracts totaling more than $4.8 million in value to specific construction companies.
  • The indictment names Ryan Ross, a former CHA director of asset and property management, and Vanessa Rhodes, president of Chicago-based Bell's Better Buildings, which operates as Twenty Eleven Construction. Ross is accused of receiving the payments from Rhodes between 2023 and 2024.
  • In exchange, Ross allegedly used his official position to steer contracts to that company and another business linked to Rhodes. Multifamily Dive reached out to Ross and Rhodes for comment but did not receive responses by press time. The indictment marks the formal start of criminal proceedings but does not constitute a finding of guilt.

Detailed Case Information

The indictment charges Ross, 50, of Bolingbrook, Illinois, and Rhodes, 47, of Chicago, each with eight counts of honest services fraud. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, according to a June 9 press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois. Arraignment dates in Chicago federal court have not yet been set.

The CHA is the nation's third-largest public housing authority, relying primarily on federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop and operate housing for low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities in Chicago. However, the agency has experienced turbulence in recent years.

For a year and a half, the CHA lacked a top leader until Keith Pettigrew, a former head of the Washington, D.C. Housing Authority, was appointed CEO in April—despite opposition from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, WTTW reported. Additionally, residents filed a lawsuit alleging the CHA violated the state's Open Meetings Act when it voted to appoint Pettigrew in March.

During his tenure at the CHA, Ross was responsible for overseeing property managers and coordinating with them on preparing units for occupancy; he was in charge of selecting vendor companies to perform such unit preparation work and approving related invoices.

The indictment alleges that Ross and Rhodes concealed their scheme by submitting false documents to the CHA, including quotes, scopes of work, and invoices—including Ross's undisclosed financial interest in the unit preparation contracts awarded to Twenty Eleven Construction and affiliated companies. The two are also accused of arranging for Rhodes's husband to misrepresent himself to CHA property managers, falsely claiming he was an employee of the affiliated company and would be responsible for completing CHA unit work.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, less than two years ago, Ross was fired for violating CHA internal procedures, with one violation resulting in over $19,000 in unnecessary spending on construction work.

Officials announcing the indictment include Andrew Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Machelle Jindra, Special Agent in Charge of the HUD Office of Inspector General; and Kathryn Richards, CHA Inspector General.

Boutros said in the press release that corruption in public housing contract awards undermines trust, distorts competition, and diverts scarce resources.

"Holding accountable those who exploit their positions for personal gain is essential to protecting the integrity of public institutions, ensuring taxpayer funds are properly safeguarded, and ensuring that everyday people in need of public housing assistance receive the support they are entitled to under the program," Boutros said.

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