How Houston Housing Authority deals drain millions from local budgets

Dozens of Houston Housing Authority real estate deals are costing the city of Houston and Harris County about a million dollars a year in tax revenue, according to Rice University’s Baker Institute.

The KPRC 2 Investigates team, led by investigator Amy Davis, has been looking into the HHA for more than a year. This includes a multi-million dollar church property purchase that is now a vacant lot.

We are looking into what these deals mean for people in Houston. Baker Institute fellow Bill King is researching Public Facility Corporations, or PFC’s.

What is a PFC?

PFCs are non-profit entities created by a local government or housing authorities to partner with private developers on affordable housing projects.

By doing so, the property can receive property tax exemptions in exchange for setting aside a portion of units as affordable.

The local government code that allows the creation of PFCs was actually passed in 1999. It wasn’t until 2020 that the Houston Housing Authority ramped up its use of the code, creating about 100 new PFCs.

PFCs are a way for Housing Authorities to incentivize developers and property managers to offer a percentage of their apartments at rates low-income families can afford. Instead of creating new housing, though, between 2020 and 2024, HHA partnered with dozens of existing apartment complexes, completely removing those properties from the tax rolls.

Rice University’s Baker Institute is currently researching these deals. King says preliminary numbers show the agreements are costing local taxing districts about $100 million dollars a year.

“Under the prior leadership of Houston Housing Authority, there was a lot of concern from stakeholders that the primary goal of serving low-income people in Houston was being sort of complicated or getting foggy towards serving other purposes, getting into other types of real estate development,” said Ben Martin, research planner at Texas Housers, a nonprofit organization focused on making sure low-income Texans have access to affordable housing.

Former HHA President and CEO David Northern resigned last December, under investigation.

2 Investigates revealed Northern orchestrated several projects that paid millions to unqualified contractors who never completed the work. Northern is now the President of the Flint Housing Authority in Michigan.

LaRence Snowden was the Chairman of the HHA board, appointed by then Mayor Sylvester Turner. We called and emailed both Northern and Snowden to talk about the PFCs they created, but neither responded.

In addition to creating more affordable housing, PFCs generate private revenue that housing authorities can use without as many restrictions or oversight as the federal dollars they receive from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

2 Investigates shared the details of a 5-acre property HHA purchased in 2023 using $11.4 million in revenue generated from PFCs. Records we obtained from the Houston Housing Authority reveal the agency wouldn’t have received federal approval from HUD to purchase the property. Instead, under David Northern and LaRence Snowden’s leadership, HHA purchased the land with no solid plan for its use.

Jamie Bryant took the helm at HHA in February 2025. He said he noticed the PFC deals developers were sending to HHA daily.

“One of the very first things I did when I stepped in here was I turned off the spigot,” Bryant told 2 Investigates Amy Davis in an interview in April. “And I said, ‘turn it off.’ And what I mean by that is, we had a portal on our website that allowed developers to just submit proposals to us. And we were getting dozens and dozens and dozens of them. And prior to me being here, they were getting pushed through the system.”

Can the PFCs deal be undone?

The PFC deals signed under the previous administration are in effect in perpetuity. There’s no undoing the agreements unless one party isn’t doing what they are required under the deal. For example, if HHA finds the developer is not offering the number of low-income units required in the contract, the property could lose its tax exemption. Bryant said he is monitoring the deals closely to make sure the developers are upholding their end of the agreements.

Our investigation into the Houston Housing Authority started with emails from viewers who had questions and needed help.

Do you have a question or topic idea for us? Email ADavis@kprc.com and producer Andrea Slaydon at Aslaydon@kprc.com.