The days when the Pittsburgh Housing Authority could spend hundreds of dollars on chocolate are over.

So said its leader in advance of a report due to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl today on authority spending on concerts, coffee, clothing and more. Executive Director A. Fulton Meachem Jr., though, won't back off of programs geared toward the authority's youth, even as his agency struggles with upkeep.

"People, I guess, want to put the Housing Authority in a box -- 'The only thing you should do is warehouse poor people.' I don't think that's all it is," he said.

Its spending became an issue after the authority arranged a September concert and follow-up presentations by the New York City duo Nuttin' But Stringz, with the $27,000 tab covered by private donations agency workers raised. It was first reported by KDKA-TV reporter Marty Griffin, in a story about many authority expenses that prompted the mayor to demand the review.

The concert was part of the authority's Clean Slate program to keep young people off drugs, which also included giveaways of 400 windbreakers and other items.

The $7,660 cost of the windbreakers was covered by federal money, because they were characterized as educational costs. The goal, said Mr. Meachem, was to give the authority's good kids "an identity, just like the drug dealer who has on his shirt, 'Snitches get stitches.' "

People don't need embroidered windbreakers, countered Matt Hogue, a former authority assistant property manager who has criticized the agency's spending since resigning in October.

"They need good, affordable housing that isn't falling down," he said.

Mr. Meachem said the authority is considering spinning the 10-year-old Clean Slate into a separate nonprofit entity to enhance its fund-raising capability and avoid any appearance of misspending tax dollars.

He said that when he came to the authority in August 2006, he stamped out the office coffee service and the regular purchase of Betsy Ann Chocolates for events like groundbreakings. In 2006, the authority requisitioned 450 chocolates at $2 each.

"Those are past practices," Mr. Meachem said. He noted that under his watch, the authority went from deficits to an anticipated multimillion-dollar surplus this year.

That surplus, though, is possible in part because of 22 layoffs a year ago that included maintenance staff.

"There are still enough maintenance people here to get the job done, each and every day," said Mr. Meachem. He said the authority has 145 maintenance workers.

That's not enough, said Mr. Hogue.

"The maintenance just got progressively worse as each month went by," he said.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development inspectors review authority properties yearly, assigning scores of zero to 30 -- with 18 a passing grade -- to every community and to the entire authority. Inspections in 2006 yielded an overall score of 22, and those last year brought a worse score of 20.

In the Hill District's Addison Terrace, which got a failing score of 15.4 from HUD, Thelma Davis showed a dripping bathroom faucet that she said had been that way for 13 years. A HUD inspection in October found mildew and peeling paint caused by leaks from a unit above. The authority cleaned and painted most of the mildew spots, but peeling paint remains.

"They haven't done right by me," said Ms. Davis, a 30-year cancer survivor.

Elsewhere in Addison, HUD inspectors found locks that don't work, jagged broken windows, missing electrical breakers, exposed wires, and inoperable stoves and refrigerators.

Addison was built in 1941, "and we do everything in our power to try to keep it up to standard," said Mr. Meachem. The authority wants eventually to rebuild it as a mixed-income community.

Some newer authority properties got near-perfect scores.

The authority is trying to improve maintenance by eliminating an ungainly system of nearly 100 mini-warehouses and instead hiring firms to provide materials as they're needed.

Mr. Meachem said he doesn't plan to shift money from services to maintenance. He said the authority has "cut back" on things like the 78 golf shirts, for $611, it bought for participants in a 2006 resident leadership conference. But such expenses won't be eliminated.

"I think it's important for us to give as much positive reinforcement to our residents as we possibly can," he said.