[4] Polinger Company hired Crawford to manage the newly built Park Southern apartment complex in Washington Highlands.

[13] By 1970, he was a consultant for Urban Rehabilitation Corporation,[14] chairman of Anacostia Citizens and Merchants, Inc.,[15] chairman of the Sixth District Police–Citizens Advisory Council, treasurer of Congress Heights Association for Service and Education, member of the Mayor's Juvenile Delinquency Committee, and a member of the board of trustees of the Junior Citizens Corporation.

[22] He conceived of and led a summer enrichment program to bring children from Southeast D.C. to meet prosperous Black families in Glenarden, Maryland.

[25] President Richard Nixon decided to appoint Joseph P. Yedell and Margaret A. Haywood to the City Council instead.

[25] Crawford again sought the appointment in 1972 after Yedell decided to resign from his post in order to become the District's human resources director.

[28] Delegate Walter E. Fauntroy and D.C. School Board President Marion Barry both praised Crawford's appointment.

[28] On Crawford's first full day in the position, April 2, 1973, he told twenty of his division managers that they would spend an entire weekend at a public housing development in Washington, D.C.[1] They would sleep in vacant apartments in the buildings.

"[1] With help from the National Capital Housing Authority, Crawford planned to have the staff members stay in vacant apartments in the Frederick Douglas Dwelling development at 21st Street and Alabama Avenue SE.

[33] After a delay caused by emergencies related to flooding in parts of the country,[33] the one-day one-night trip to the Frederick Douglas Dwelling took place at the end of May 1973.

[34] During the trip, the staff members met with Thelma N. Jones, chair of a tenant advocate group in the neighborhood.

[36] He also had some of the federally owned vacant homes sold to local governments in order to be converted into public housing.

[41] In 1974, Crawford allocated $100 million for repairs and security improvements to public housing developments in the United States.

[44] Crawford attributed these deficiencies on the United States federal civil service, courts delaying evictions due to nonpayment of rent, and Congressional intervention in the firing of an incompetent government employee.

[44] Crawford intended to resign his position at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in April 1975.

[2][47] Crawford had been discussing possible consulting jobs for himself after he planned to leave the Department of Housing and Urban Development in April 1975.

[50] After leaving the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Crawford returned to property management.

[8] In 1978, Crawford bought several dozen houses and apartments in Shaw in order to renovate them with loans from the District of Columbia.

[52] A group of elderly residents of the Edgewood Terrace Apartments were taken to Crawford's announcement ceremony in a bus owned by the District of Columbia Department of Recreation.

[54] He said, "I'm more upset tonight than I was a long time ago when an elderly white gentleman ran into the back of my car and was killed.