Fired Norfolk housing director Nathan Simms started work as the chief executive of the Charleston Housing Authority in South Carolina on Monday after a WHRO investigation found Simms lost his job in Norfolk for issuing millions of dollars in no-bid contracts and keeping them from Norfolk’s board.
Charleston Housing Authority Board chairman Greg Voigt wrote in a statement to WHRO Tuesday that his board is “aware of recent news coverage” and had “conducted additional intensive due diligence beyond that completed during our search process.”
“Based on information available, (we) are confident in our decision and in Mr. Simms' leadership and expertise,” Voigt wrote.
Norfolk officials say they never heard from Charleston, either during the initial search or in the wake of WHRO’s investigation.
Charleston announced Simms was a finalist in March and confirmed his hiring on April 27.
The following day, WHRO published the first story detailing how NRHA issued more than $4 million in no-bid contracts during Simms’ two years leading the agency. The contracts violated state law, as well as federal and local policy, and were hidden from the board until sometime in 2025.At least $1 million worth of those contracts went to people with personal and business connections to Simms and his top deputies.
Simms was quietly fired from his job in Norfolk last October, after the NRHA board found out. Several more top officials hired by Simms at NRHA have departed since his firing.An internal investigation and an outside audit into the full scope of the issues are underway at NRHA.
Charleston’s daily newspaper, The Post and Courier, published an editorial on May 1 calling for the Charleston Housing Authority to start its leadership search over and not hire Simms after the revelations in the WHRO investigation.
“The decision in hiring the next CEO of the Charleston Housing Authority is way too important to roll the dice,” the editorial reads.
“But that’s exactly what the authority’s board would be doing if it follows through on its announced plan to hire Nathan Simms.”
Calls and emails to reach Simms at the Charleston Housing Authority were not returned.
