Authority head also discusses his salary and rent increases
MARFA — When The Big Bend Sentinel started posing questions to local officials about how the Marfa Housing Authority (MHA) operates — along with its sister organization of sorts, the nonprofit Marfa Property Management (MPM) — no one had clear answers.
Many locals were also unclear on the nonprofits’ roles, and whether the MHA still exists — even though it remains branded across the headquarters at 510 South Kelley Street by the Border Patrol station.
On April 21, Jesse Williams — the MHA executive director and MPM nonprofit CEO — sat down with The Big Bend Sentinel to run through how the organizations function. Williams has served as head of the organizations for almost 10 years. Joining the conversation was John Lara, who provides maintenance and some security for the MHA. Lara has been providing maintenance for eight years and security for 15. The Sentinel previously wrote a story on resident allegations of harassment by Lara. Williams never responded to The Sentinel about those allegations, although he did eventually pen statements on them saying no complaints had been filed with him. For the April 21 interview The Sentinel and Williams agreed to only talk about the function of the organizations.
The authority is two pronged: the MHA, which was previously a bona fide government agency funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for public housing and MPM, a Public Facility Corporation (PFC) organized in the state of Texas, which accepts Section 8 vouchers that subsidize rent for low-income tenants. The entities have 74 apartment units (and four cabins), all of which are available as subsidized housing for those who qualify. Williams said that if units aren’t occupied, they also can be rented for a market rate to those who don’t qualify for subsidies.
In 2022, the MHA started a Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversion that necessitated the formation of the nonprofit. It turned what’s traditionally known as public housing units into private, nonprofit housing that accepts vouchers. RAD conversions are trending across the country because they offer more options for funding improvement projects and building additional units — something traditional public housing authorities can’t do under federal law.
Area applications from low-income renters for vouchers are processed — using HUD guidelines — by the Odessa Housing Authority, which does not charge the MHA for that service, according to the authority’s executive director, Andrew Laabs.
Both the MHA and MPM are governed by the same three board members: Isabel Cash (chair), Anna Catano (vice chair) and David Walstrom. Cash and Catano did not respond to multiple requests for comment — although Walstrom did relay some information from them to The Sentinel.
Marfa Mayor Manny Baeza plays the minor role of approving new board members, since the MHA was created by the city in 1970 and that has been the tradition throughout the years. That duty is not required by state law; a mayor only appoints the first chair at creation, although a mayor may remove board members for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or misconduct in office.”
With the Marfa housing market constrained by about 200 short-term rentals, and the median price for homes heading past $490,000, affordable housing has been a topic of discussion among city leaders for years. Williams said the ability to at least try and build more affordable units was a standout for supporting the conversion. “I would like to expand as soon as possible, whenever it’s feasible,” Williams said.
Williams said he’s always exploring how to build or acquire land for new units. Discussions with Marfa ISD about unused parcels have not yet yielded solid proposals, he said. “For a lot of these ideas you need money and land,” Williams said.
Last year, the MPM constructed four two-bedroom “cabins” — stand-alone, modernized versions of units that are intended to address the lack of housing for teachers and police officers — on a lot it owned next to the Border Patrol station. Currently, one cabin is occupied by a Marfa ISD school principal, one by a teacher, and one by a Marfa Police Department officer, Williams said. The fourth unit was intended to serve as a short-term rental to generate revenue for other affordable housing initiatives. Although that short-term rental plan was supposed to be in operation by last summer, it’s still sitting vacant. Williams said they’ve had setbacks trying to get the cabin furnished and ready for visitors.
PFCs are somewhat unique as Texas nonprofit corporations because they are considered government bodies and subject to the Open Meetings and Public Information Acts. Williams provided The Sentinel with the past three board meeting minutes and agendas — the latter of which he said he posts on the MHA front door following the Open Meeting Act law. He also provided a December 2022 audit of MHA that showed a comprehensive look at MHA’s books and notes from the auditor citing the authority’s stable finances.
No other audits have been conducted since, Williams said, because the organizations wanted to ensure the RAD conversion was fully complete, and some documents are still pending approval by HUD. However, under state law, PFCs must conduct an audit every year to remain tax exempt. Those audits also are intended to “identify the difference in the rent charged for income-restricted residential units and the estimated maximum market rents that could be charged for those units without the rent or income restrictions.” Williams said a 2023 audit should launch shortly and then he will catch up with 2024 — something he said HUD has been understanding of considering the RAD conversion.
According to records from Williams, he received two raises of about $10,500 the past two years, putting his salary at $137,441. However, he said he went to his board before those raises and asked to take salary on the value of his healthcare and retirement benefits, which amounts to about $32,000 a year. The board agreed, cut the benefits and raised his salary in increments, an account confirmed by Board Chair Cash through Walstrom.
The Sentinel attempted to contact Jennifer Dugan, the executive director of Texas Housing Authority, a nonprofit that represents many affordable housing entities across the state, to see if it had any data on director salaries, but she did not reply by press time. Also not replying to multiple requests was John Salcido, executive director of the Pecos Housing Authority and representative for the West Texas Council of Public Housing Authorities. Multiple attempts to discuss how the Alpine Housing Authority operates were met with no reply from its executive director, Elva Torres.
A review of six job postings for housing authority executives on the national Public Housing Authorities Directors Association website showed salaries ranging from a low of $105,000 to a high of $180,000 — although all six cities had much more units, higher budgets and considerably more vouchers applications processed.
Williams said he’s proud of the work done at MHA and MPM and feels he deserves his level of pay. “As far as small housing authorities go, we’re doing immaculate compared to many.”
With the RAD conversion, rental rates went up, on average for all units, about 18% or $181, according to an analysis of 2022 rents listed in the audit and current rates provided by Williams. He stressed, however, that didn’t mean rent increases for most of the low-income qualified tenants. Their rents remain tied to their income — subsidized to peg their rent at the most 30% of their income. (Other factors like children, disabled individuals and the elderly can make that percentage even lower.) The Odessa Housing Authority regularly reviews tenants’ financial information to see if their rents need to go up or down.
None of the low-income tenants saw their rents go up because of the increase in rates, Williams said. The new rates were based on HUD survey market values, and the Odessa Housing Authority — which sends the difference between what low-income residents pay and the actual rate to MHA and MMP — approved the new rate structure. Rates differ slightly between different apartments with the same number of rooms, but the average rates that would be paid by someone not qualifying for Section 8 subsidies would be: $745 (studio), $848.50 (1 bedroom), $896.50 (2 bedroom), $1,341 (3 bedroom) and $1,408 (4 bedroom).
Williams said HUD has encouraged RAD conversions to facilitate the possibility of more revenue with higher private rates, with the idea being to let the nonprofits make more money, improve their current units or expand with new ones. “So, we make more money now than we ever have in the whole existence of the housing authority, which translates to we’re able to provide more maintenance, repairs, everything,” Williams said. “So, yes, the standard of living is very good.”