1999 Best Practices
Success Stories

Program Name:	Galveston Housing Authority Recovery Project
Program Focus:	Fair Housing
Geographic Area:	Southwest

State:	Texas
City:	Galveston

Executive Summary
In 1996, the Galveston Housing Authority (GHA) in Galveston, Texas was in trouble. Many of its properties were in disrepair, public housing residents had lost faith in the Authority, and HUD had designated it as a "troubled" agency. To remedy the situation, GHA began by assembling a task force team to reorganize and revitalize the Authority.

In less than a year’s time, with focused teamwork and dedication to a common goal, the team reorganized GHA and increased the Authority’s Public Housing Management Assessment Program score by 33 points, from 43 to 76, and removed GHA from HUD’s "troubled" list. Only a year later, GHA had improved its score even further, bumping it up to 94.

How did they do it? A team of dedicated individuals, pulling for the same goal made it happen. Composed of members of the GHA Board of Commissioners, a new executive director and GHA staff, personnel from HUD’s Office of Troubled Agency Recovery (OTAR), professional consultants, fee accountants and a public relations firm, the team aggressively set about transforming the "troubled" GHA into a venerable model housing authority.

The Galveston Housing Authority Recovery project was an exercise in teamwork. The success of the project hinged on the team’s ability to overcome a number of barriers:

• ironing out differences of opinion within the Authority and community at large,
• settling race-related issues,
• contending with a high staff turnover rate, and
• educating new staff to rebuild the Authority.

New GHA staff promptly took ownership of the problems facing the agency and completed the build-out of the Island Community Center (ICC), in which GHA is housed. A new-found confidence in the agency’s leadership allowed staff to quickly fill GHA’s new 81,000 square-foot ICC with community partner agencies, including the Texas Workforce Commission and Galveston College, both of which have brought new opportunities to GHA residents.

Once GHA regained its status, OTAR and the HUD Houston field office worked closely with GHA to reinstate defaulted grant funding, which allowed for the demolition of crime-ridden vacant public housing and the building of 30 single-family home units, a new community center, and 48 scattered-site public housing island cottages.

"The Galveston Housing Authority Recovery project proves that even a housing authority that has had its image tarnished by adverse publicity can work to regain the confidence of its residents and once again become a positive asset to its community," said Strain.

The GHA continues to build on its improved image and level of trust in its community. Press coverage continues to be positive, strengthening the residents’ confidence in the Authority.

Partners: GHA Board of Commissioners, HUD’s Office of Troubled Agency Recovery (OTAR), professional consultants, fee accountants and a public relations firm.

Financing: OTAR and HUD.

Point of Contact: Sharon Strain, Phone: (409) 765-1900, E-mail: strain@airmail.com