Housing and Community Services, Inc.

Not too long ago and in fairly lightning-quick time we completed the acquisition of our newest property located in Pearsall, Texas and only about an hour’s drive from San Antonio. While not an enormous complex at just 63 units, Frio Apartments represents something much larger in the implications of the current economic trends in this geographic area – mainly the dwindling supply of affordable multifamily options giving way to the increased demand for market-rate housing.

The oil and gas-rich Eagle Ford shale formation is one that has since 2010 spawned a vista marked alternately by drilling rigs as well as construction cranes. As the eaglefordshale.com web site says, ‘the … oil & gas boom is bringing a flood of industry personnel to South Texas, which in turn is making local housing hard to find’. The type of housing that is available includes repurposed hotels and motels, former vacation lodges, mobile camps, and brand new facilities with every convenience from resort-style furnishings to wi-fi, housekeeping, satellite television and more. That’s some pretty luxurious trappings for the oil field or any set really and nary a new or even old affordable property in sight.

Remembering that our mission is to preserve the provision of housing for the lowest income members of our population, we seized the opportunity to close on Frio Apartments with the goal to ultimately rehab the existing two and three bedroom units as well as the community center and other common areas. After all, that’s what we do best. Yet we can’t help but recognize that at least in this arena we’re sort of alone out here and facing yet another example of what gets trampled on the path to progress. Certainly it’s a great thing that people have jobs and we’re seeing growth and activity in a physical area as well as an industry. However, the housing that’s going up and outward is primarily to accommodate the influx of workers brought in by their parent companies. For those individuals and families still facing the difficulties imposed by limited finances, this new housing isn’t anywhere within their means. And properties that are still affordable have been or could become that much scarcer as developers acquire the sites for repurposing into even more market rate options.

So where does that leave the people of Pearsall and surrounding locales who can’t afford to pay higher rents or whose employers aren’t subsidizing the ‘work source developments’, which basically precludes their eligibility for any of these well-equipped executive apartments? It leaves them in our hands and the hands of similar organizations whose leadership will hopefully make that same short drive to the Pearsall shale area and take a closer look at what they too can do to preserve not only the supply of affordable housing – but also the dignity and the opportunity for the people who call this town home. Because after all, they were there first.

On January 27, 2012 we held the official grand ‘reopening’ of a substantial project in San Antonio that at the time of its closing in mid-2010 represented the single largest tax credit tax exchange through a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan in the state of Texas. Oak Manor Apartments reflects approximately $26 million in renovations that were also funded in part through the City of San Antonio HOME Rental Rehabilitation and other lenders.

The difference in the property in just a year and a half is the proverbial night and day. All 229 units were beautifully rehabbed to modernize and upgrade the interiors and fixtures as well as improve the structural integrity and exteriors of every building. Common areas and facilities, the grounds and landscaping were also rejuvenated for a property-wide facelift that is as functionally improved as it is attractive.

This is a particularly special entity in our portfolio of affordable housing properties, not only for the extent of the renovation and the funding source behind it but also for the unique population that resides here. It’s an extremely diverse group, culturally as well as generationally, comprising over 680 individuals who together have formed a community that in many ways functions much like a family. A staff whose skills in affordable housing management and the provision of social, educational, and numerous other services has succeeded in helping to create this kind of unified environment that operates like a well-oiled machine.

But there’s another story behind this success, one that was remembered and honored on this bittersweet day of celebration. The new Belinda Hernandez Tuttle Community Learning Center will receive its official plaque bearing the name of the incredible woman who first began her HCS career at this property. With limited resources and materials at the time, Belinda approached her role as Services Manager with the same strength, conviction, and creativity to which she would later apply in her role as Services Coordinator for all of our South Texas properties. She embraced the people of Oak Manor Apartments as her own, attending to their needs above hers, working tirelessly to improve the quality of their lives through every imaginable resource she could find in the city of San Antonio. Belinda embodied our organization’s mission and a generosity of spirit and fierce (actually, almost scary at times) devotion we all aspire to attain -- and simultaneously admire as we recognize just how hard it is to actually reach and then maintain these levels of performance and genuine commitment.

We lost Belinda last year to a hard-fought battle with cancer but we will never lose sight of the dreams she had for all the residents and most especially the children at Oak Manor and ultimately every one of our properties. So as we dedicated the community center in her honor we knew that somewhere she’s watching and probably critiquing the arrangements and the speeches and silently reminding us all to try a little harder, do a little more and be a little better – or else.

Our Operations Facilities Coordinator thought I’d be interested in seeing some photos of a recent company training sent to him by the senior maintenance technician for our properties in the Valley area and the facilitator of the event. This wasn’t a typical training where people sit and listen to a prominent speaker or participate in an online webinar that while it does offer convenience isn’t always the most authentic learning experience. This training was designed to get the participants’ hands dirty in the truest sense of the word. An appliance repair refresher class for the property maintenance techs provided an authentic opportunity to take apart, reattach, and recreate some of the more common issues they encounter with various temperamental appliances. Staff showed up to hone their skills and gain some new insight and tips for fixing those items at our affordable housing properties that take a great deal of wear and tear and are always expensive to replace. Apparently it’s not every day they get to see and not touch the internal element of a built-in microwave oven that holds 4,000 shocking volts even when disconnected. Leaking or non-cooling refrigerators were next on the list of hot items to garner their attention, followed by a closer look at ranges that weren’t so hot due to faulty ignitions. It was reported that a great time was had by all, learning even more than they already knew about the complex world of appliances that generally baffles and irritates the rest of us when something just quits working.

What was really good to hear, and see (which you can do too on our HCS Facebook page, http://on.fb.me/vcwuCZ) was of course the avid interest in the subject matter and the appreciative responses from the techs at being able to take part in more training that helps them to better help the residents we all serve. Attendance wasn’t mandatory and no one was grading them at the end of the three and a half hour session. And it’s yet another example of the kind of commitment we see every day from our staff, at every level of our organization. That’s not just something we say because it sounds good. It’s true. Regardless of the location, whether it’s our home offices in San Antonio, a Community Learning Center in Lockhart, or any one of the roughly 40 properties we now include in our ever-expanding portfolio, our staff as a whole represents some of the most dedicated professionals around. And I know the next time the defrost cycle is working overtime on my refrigerator-freezer, I’ll hope the guy who shows up to fix it was as present during his training as our techs were at theirs. We should all be so lucky.

With just a few days left in 2011, it's that semi-down time when we have a moment to reflect on the year almost past and the one just ahead of us. This is the part where we get to cement our commitment to the best intentions, to remind ourselves of what we need to do better and if we're lucky, renew our efforts based on the things we did right. While there are no guarantees in this or any life, now is that time when we all get a kind of 'do-over', just in case there really is anything we'd like to change about our approach, our decisions, our practices. The opportunity to make a difference is one that many nonprofit organizations have each day but it's not always apparent to those of us trying to affect that change. We get mired in the minutiae and bogged down in details that probably comes from a perspective that’s sometimes just a little too close-up. It’s hard to remind ourselves to step back and take in a broader picture, to see what we’re missing on the periphery of our activities that may not be directly in our field of vision. Most nonprofits typically have a painstakingly crafted and approved-by-committee mission statement; in many ways, that mission statement serves as our recurring “new year’s resolution” since we work toward fulfilling this every year and base our means around achieving that end. So it becomes second nature to focus on this -- but I have to wonder if that can set us up to potentially overlook another way to extend our realm of influence and, ideally, our rate of success. That doesn’t imply we should abandon our mission because that’s what keeps us grounded and serves as the foundation for all we do. I have our mission statement typed out and pinned up on my bulletin board for two major reasons: as a reminder of the exact language, written by someone else long before I came here, for various grant applications that always seem to ask for this when I can least recall it verbatim; and to ensure that my view of what’s out there (i.e. funding, partnerships, resources) is open to all the possibilities while still in line with our reason for being. Maybe each of us needs our own individual mission statements, no committee necessary, to help us arrive at an achievable list of ‘to-do’s’ for 2012 but not so narrowly defined that we miss seeing the world of opportunities around us. I think I’ll put that at the top of my list right now. Have a safe New Year’s Eve and here’s to a truly happy 2012.

In the last few days in particular, ‘collaboration’ has been even more of a focus of both our activities and thoughts. A hot topic for nonprofits in recent years, due to the economy, the concomitant shortfall of funding and longer lists of prospective grantees, collaboration sometimes seems to imply a larger group effort. We have partnered with other local agencies for potential opportunities where the melding of minds and efforts would seem to offer a better chance of success. There’s also little doubt that teamwork pays off in more ways than just financial gains. One great idea can spark another, while the talents and capabilities of two organizations are multiplied and ideally may benefit even more people. Or at least, that’s our fervent wish. Nonprofits get together with each other to talk about ways to pitch a grant, promote a service, to learn and to hopefully expand our perspective and derive unique ways to serve those in need. But this week we have been collectively working on some things closer to home and the efforts of just a handful of people seem to personify the very definition of collaboration. One person told another about a special circumstance and a need that had arisen and a sort of chain reaction of response was almost immediately begun. Drawing upon such great resources as Bexar Necessities, an ‘electronic bulletin board’, which allows authorized agencies to post unique and sometimes hard-to-find requests on behalf of the clients they serve, and the never-ending network of Komen SA, this informal collaboration represented everything that is positive and genuinely good about the concept. What a few were trying to achieve or address isn’t as much the point as the readiness with which everyone just jumped in and said, ‘here, let me see what I can do to help’. Maybe others outside of the nonprofit world think that’s just something that comes with the territory. Maybe it does. And this could be the invisible glue that brings us together regardless of who we are individually outside of our workplaces and beyond our jobs. Collaborating, cooperating, partnering – call it what you will and it still adds to up improving the odds for all of us.