‘Through the Ranks’: Johnston Leaves Cambridge Housing Authority After 34 Years

In 1991, Michael J. “Mike” Johnston joined the Cambridge Housing Authority fresh out of law school to run its Section 8 voucher program.

He stayed for 34 years.

Johnston, who served as the authority’s executive director for the past nine years, retired at the end of February. During his tenure, he oversaw roughly $1 billion in redevelopment and helped pioneer housing assistance models now used nationwide.

Colleagues said Johnston leaves behind a lasting imprint on the agency, which manages public housing, supports residents and expands access to affordable housing across the city.

Six people who worked with Johnston said he built a reputation as a consequential leader in Cambridge public housing over his three-decade career.

Johnston became executive director in 2017 after about eight years as deputy director, ushering in what colleagues described as a period of transformation.

Alongside Deputy Director Brenda Downing, a 36-year veteran of the agency, Johnston pushed to redevelop aging properties in the authority’s portfolio. The agency proposed new designs for six developments it deemed obsolete and sought approval and funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to modernize them.

The effort required navigating an 18-month dispute with HUD and competing for limited state bonds and private investment.

“I kind of think of it as a puzzle,” Johnston said. “How to line up all the pieces and how to get the pieces strategically placed so that you can get from the planning stage to the actual finished product.”

Since 2010, the authority has preserved more than 2,500 units and created more than 200 additional units, according to its 2025 annual report.

One of its largest ongoing projects, the redevelopment of the Jefferson Park apartments, includes plans to replace 175 existing federal housing units and add 103 more. The project is under construction.

Johnston had been executive director for six months when he was alerted to widespread mold issues at Jefferson Park. According to two staff members, his response — personally inspecting all 59 affected units — became a defining moment in his leadership.

“He made the decision that those families needed to be relocated immediately, no matter the cost to operations, until we could determine how to remediate the issue,” Downing wrote in a statement.

“It was Mike’s resolve that no family should be subjected to those conditions and that as an agency, we needed to figure out how to resolve this issue,” she added.

Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 said Johnston’s leadership helped drive “renewed, redeveloped and expanded” affordable housing across the city, adding that the authority has become “one of the leading housing authorities in the country.”

Johnston’s successor, Clara Fraden, said his impact extended beyond development. She pointed to his efforts to expand Section 8 vouchers, a federally funded housing assistance program administered by the authority.

Johnston founded the Expiring Use Preservation Program, which preserves affordability in units with expiring restrictions, and the Sponsor-Based Housing Program, which allows organizations to rent and sublease homes to program participants.

“It’s been a critical tool to help house vulnerable people who would have a difficult time leasing a unit on their own,” Fraden said. “Combined, these programs serve thousands of households that otherwise wouldn’t receive housing support.”

Former Executive Director Daniel J. “Dan” Wuenschel said Johnston’s focus on those programs stemmed from his early work administering federal housing assistance.

“The fact that he has come up through the ranks, having started as a staff person and worked his way up, has given him a perspective that is very helpful for making new initiatives secure,” Wuenschel said.

Johnston’s emphasis on residents also shaped the agency’s internal culture, according to employees. His signature initiative, known as “One CHA,” began on his first day as executive director.

The approach emphasized shared responsibility across roles, accountability and clear communication, Downing said.

At his first all-staff meeting, Johnston told employees that those who were there only for a paycheck should consider leaving. About 40 percent of staff turned over in the next two years, but the agency eventually grew from roughly 120 employees to 256.

Fraden and Downing both said Johnston encouraged dissent and maintained an open-door policy.

Fraden, who began her tenure at the end of March, said she plans to continue Johnston’s focus on “disagreement and debate.”

“I’m committed to continuing the ‘One CHA’ mindset that Mike championed — recognizing that we’re all here for the same mission and actively working to break down silos between departments internally at CHA and between residents and staff,” she wrote.

—Staff writer Adelaide L. D. Roger can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @adelaidelrg.