The Philadelphia Housing Authority has been making news in the state’s largest city — and in Washington, D.C. The news, at least for taxpayers, is not good. That’s because the former executive director, Carl Greene, treated the agency’s funds as OPM, or other people’s money — spending with little restraint.

According to published reports, Greene’s spending has attracted the attention of three federal agencies — the FBI, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Office of Inspector General.

A public housing agency normally is not on most people’s radar, but Philadelphia’s agency is now getting public attention.

The first sign of trouble came with reports that Greene had cost the agency $900,000 to quietly settle several sexual harassment lawsuits against him.

Further published reports featured allegations from agency employees claiming that Greene pressured them to contribute to a nonprofit agency, created by Greene, called the Pennsylvania Institute of Affordable Housing Professionals (IAHP). The employees characterized IAHP as a slush fund.

The money that agency workers say they were coerced to pay to IAHP was used to lobby against HUD budget cuts and to pay for parties and tickets to Philadelphia Phillies baseball games.

The most recent scandal, revealed in news reports early last week, show Greene spending $15,920 to buy 20 luxury carry-on duffel bags for his agency’s top staffers. Late last week, the interim PHA director ordered the bags returned.

Greene was fired by the PHA board in September after it was learned he had secretly settled the sexual harassment suits.

The housing agency is one of a handful of public or quasi-public agencies that operate with public funds but without much public scrutiny.

The PHA’s annual budget of $345 million comes mostly from HUD, meaning U.S. taxpayers.

Early this month, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, criticized Greene’s spending and promised an intense review of spending by public housing agencies across the country. Grassley is the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and his probe into Greene’s purchases came as part of an effort to audit expenditures of the $780 billion stimulus package approved by Congress early last year.

The growing list of charges against Greene and his spending at PHA attracted Grassley’s attention, and HUD is promising to conduct its own audit. It’s also worth asking, “Where was the PHA board of directors?”

Once again, taxpayer money was being spent carelessly, with little concern for effectiveness.

The allegations against Greene are a reminder of a campaign pledge by then-candidate Barack Obama promising a full review of all federal spending to ensure taxpayers’ money was being used wisely. Obama vowed to go through the federal budget “line by line” to determine if the spending was effective — or even necessary.

Greene, who was hired by then-Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, has been credited with improving the quality of public housing in Philadelphia. But he, like too many public officials, forgot it was taxpayers’ money he was spending.

Reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer show that Greene pushed up the price of an 8,000-square-foot pavilion at a public housing complex to $2.8 million by upgrading columns from brick to granite and having a fabric canopy dyed a special shade of tan so it would blend in better with the building. He also spent $49,000 for an audiovisual system at the complex.

The Inquirer also revealed that Greene spent $201,578 to have ductwork relocated in a multipurpose room at a community center because he objected to the cluttered look it created.

Learning about public officials spending taxpayer money in such a cavalier manner is one reason why the public has lost faith in government.

When stories of wasteful government spending surface, as they too often do, public faith is lost and people recoil at any talk of the need to raise taxes.