In a dramatic new direction for the redevelopment of the Alazan Courts, the San Antonio Housing Authority will recommend to its board of commissioners today that SAHA “self-develop” the courts with the intent of keeping its roughly 1,200 low-income residents in the public housing property.
SAHA has canceled its agreement with developer NRP Group in a plan that would have demolished the 501 units spread across 23 acres on the near West Side with a mixed-income development. Criticism for the plan by housing advocates has been mounting, and culminated in a protest in November outside the condo of former SAHA CEO David Nisivoccia. Nisivoccia has since left SAHA to become the chief executive at the Denver Housing Authority, a move that was announced in early November.
Critics said the plan would essentially displace the families, whose average yearly income is $8,700, by scattering them throughout the city. Until now, SAHA contended that the families would receive vouchers, which housing advocates said doesn’t necessarily guarantee they would be able to live in their preferred neighborhood because landlords are notrequired to accept the voucher. Opponents also characterized the previous plan as a major move toward the gentrification of the predominately poor West Side. They called for the restoration of the 80-year-old courts.
Now under acting CEO Ed Hinojosa Jr., who served as SAHA’s chief financial officer under Nisivoccia, the agency appears to be changing course.
In a presentation scheduled to go before the SAHA board of commissioners this afternoon, SAHA staff cited the impact of low-income residents relocating, along with the Covid-19 pandemic, as reasons for the new direction. It also said the goal is to “maintain or grow the number of public housing units at Alazan.”
SAHA intends to seek funding from the Biden administration and Congress for the project, “which may provide new opportunities for a creative approach to expanding public housing.”
At the City Council meeting Thursday morning, District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales first broke the news, and expressed disappointment that the original plan had been shelved.
This is a developing story and will be updated with reaction later today.
» Housing activists take their protest to San Antonio Housing Authority CEO’s home
» How to relocate Alazan Courts’ 1,200 residents? San Antonio Housing Authority says it’s complicated, critics say you don’t
» Alazan-Apache Courts named one of America’s most endangered historic places
Heron Editor Ben Olivo can be reached at 210-421-3932 | ben@saheron.com | @rbolivo on Twitter
They listened to the people! And apparently considered the information from an historical housing project renovation in another part of the country.
Finally – this decision places the needs of the working-class people before the wants of the greedy corporations
I guess SAHA calling the community’s response “hate speech” wasn’t enough to distract from how unpopular their gentrification plans were among the people of San Antonio. After the last few years too many residents already distrusted SAHA’s leadership, and insulting the community last month didn’t help.
This is a (small) step in the right direction, but came much too late.
Small Step in the right direction? So the Courts continue to be mismanaged, in disrepair, and come summer time will be lacking basic essentials such as air conditioning. Then we will hear more cries about how they don’t care about the residents. For the life of me I can not understand how people so badly will settle for anything. What is not being explained, yes some will be displaced and have to move on. But for the greater good of the Westside this project would have been very beneficial. The Westside will continue on its course of poverty, crime, etc until they allowed mixed use development raising the income level from where it currently sits. Yes, too much of something is not a good thing. The same goes for unemployment and poverty. All to which can be changed if the area changes. At this rate as the rest of the city grows, the Westside will remain full of laundromats, car lots, and Mexican restaurants.
So residents are not moving because of political reasons..
For once the San Antonio Housing Authority listened to the people and did the right thing!
People who oppose this decision do so out of ignorance. Little by little SAHA is paying attention to the residents and their community allies!