Governor must restore housing agency's priorities (op-ed)

Special to the Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News
Word Count: 690
September 18, 1998

Governor must restore housing agency's priorities

by Janee Briesemeister and John Henneberger

The recent resignation of the state's housing chief provides Gov. George W. Bush a fresh opportunity to change the course at the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). In the recent past, the agency has operated like a ship without a compass. Instead of charting a course in line with its mission, TDHCA's emphasis had drifted toward providing services for people who can receive help elsewhere.

According to state law, the TDHCA's highest priority must be to provide assistance to low and very low income Texans in order to ensure affordable housing and other services can reach those who need it the most. However, the agency's leadership had been increasingly reluctant to navigate this course over the past few years.

We believe the governor and Legislature should make sure that TDHCA adheres to its legal foundation and that its new director has the agency's priorities in proper order. Housing is not only the American Dream but a human necessity. In Texas, however, hundreds of thousands of people currently live in Third World conditions, often lacking essential services such as running water, sewers, or electricity. For millions more, affordable housing represents a slippery, unreachable goal. In a state as prosperous as Texas, something must change.

The Governor must appoint a strong and compassionate leader for the housing agency, an individual of the highest integrity and a true believer in open government. We propose a four-point plan to steer the state housing agency's ship back to more stable waters:

Prioritize government involvement -- The state's housing goal should be to assist poor families first in securing a roof over their heads. TDHCA has expanded government housing subsidies in an attempt to subsidize moderate-income families housing at a time when the available funds are shrinking. The state has no business competing with banks and mortgage companies in making loans to moderate-income families. The Governor should direct TDHCA to prioritize helping those Texas families who need government assistance most.
Reward Texans individual initiatives -- Texas does not have enough money to give housing assistance to everyone who needs it. The one resource we do have is the individual initiative of our citizens. TDHCA should support housing programs that challenge communities and low-income people to take initiative. Working with groups like Habitat for Humanity, non-profit organizations and the self-help housing programs of the border colonias should be the focus of government housing efforts. With our limited public resources, the state should provide the incentive of a little government help to motivate people to do the most they can for themselves and their communities.
Build communities, not housing projects -- The housing agency has reduced its involvement with citizens, community organizations, local governments, and nonprofit organizations.

The state should become a partner with these local people and institutions in the revitalization of decaying housing and neighborhoods. Like Habitat for Humanity, the state should support building new homes on vacant, weed-choked lots. It should prioritize repairing the homes of the elderly, enforcing habitability standards and renovating run-down low-income apartment projects. It should preserve the low-income housing stock we are at risk of losing. Finally, the state should prioritize building and revitalizing communities over building more 'projects.'

Restore good management to the housing agency -- Texans have a right to expect good management practices at our housing agency. Our housing needs are too vast for us to sit idly by while tens of millions of federal dollars allocated to our state go unused, which is precisely what has happened. Both the agency and the private mortgage company it operates have held on to millions intended for repairs to homes owned by low-income families or down payments on new homes purchased by low-income buyers. If the state-backed mortgage company cannot prove its efficiency and effectiveness, it should be abolished.

We urge Governor Bush to take a positive first step to revitalize Texas's housing future. The appointment of a housing director with the navigational skills to steer the helm of the TDHCA back to the true mission of the agency in accordance with the law will send a clear message that things will change.

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Janee Briesemeister is a senior policy analyst for the Southwest Regional Office of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. John Henneberger is co-director of the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service.

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Special to the Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News Word Count: 690 September 18, 1998