Cheryl Burns

Cheryl Burns is the Chief Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Officer for the Chicago Housing Authority.

Ms. Burns is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Housing Choice Voucher program (formerly known as Section 8), the second-largest public housing voucher program in the United States with 47,000 vouchers. She also oversees the development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure effective and efficient HCV operations.

Ms. Burns served as CHA’s Program Integrity Manager, Senior Director and Deputy Chief Housing Officer for Operations and Compliance in which she managed the HCV budget, audits and procurement of Contracts and Supplies. She developed and monitored annual operating budgets and oversaw administrative processes such as software transition and training for CHA’s systems of record.

Prior to joining CHA, Ms. Burns spent more than 10 years working in housing authority management, gaining extensive experience in program administration, evaluation, coaching, training and staff development. She served as Executive Director of the Housing Authority of Park Forest’s HCV program and as Manager of Admissions and Occupancy for the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority, where she led the agency to a high-performer status on the SEMAP.

Ms. Burns holds a master’s degree in Communications and Training from Governor's State University and a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Columbia College in Chicago.