Houston Daily

Houston Housing Authority Board of Commissioners met Oct. 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

I. CALL TO ORDER

A Meeting of the Board of Commissioners (“Board”) of the Houston Housing Authority (“HHA”) was held on Thursday, October 16, 2025, at the Houston Housing Authority Central Office, 2640 Fountain View Drive, Houston, Texas 77057. The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.

LIVE STREAM STATISTICS

October 16, 2025: ● Live Stream Views 59 ● Average view duration 24:34 ● Peak concurrent viewers 20

II. ROLL CALL

Present:

• Joseph “Jody” Proler, Chairman

• Alton Smith, Vice Chairman

• Stephanie A.G. Ballard, Commissioner

• Eric G. Carter, Commissioner

Absent: Cynthia Aceves-Lewis, Commissioner

III. INTRODUCTION OF THE INTERPRETERS

• Kristy Kirkendoll, Commissioner

• Kenneth C. Li, Commissioner

• Jamie Bryant, Secretary

Chairman Proler offered the use of interpreters to be available to Spanish, Mandarin and Vietnamese speakers who may need assistance for public comments only.

IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS

Stewart Shaw, Bonner Carrington: Good afternoon, Chairman and Commissioners. I am the Chief Executive Officer of Bonner Carrington. I brought one of these brochures, which will be handed out after I'm done. I’ll walk you through something about Bonner Carrington. We are a mission-driven and purpose-driven company. Our purpose is to glorify God and enrich lives by being faithful stewards of all that is entrusted to us. Our mission is to develop, construct, own, and operate apartment home rental communities that are thoughtfully designed, creating a sense of place. There's more to that. I invite you to look at that in our document here, which you'll have in a moment, and there are photographs and an organization chart. You can learn a little bit about us. We've done business in the City of Houston for 15 years. We did something we're really proud of years ago, and nobody else could do it. We did it. We worked with the City of Houston and another developer, and we used some creative financing that the City of Houston helped us with, and then we were able to build a $6.5 million wastewater line. From our location right here over to Almeda, that nobody else could get done. That turned on the development lights for that area of town, which is where we have the Star of Hope now and other things. We did that with the mayor and the City Council at the time, Don Sampleysitting over here and Joel North. We are all proud of the things that we've done in the City of Houston. We are proud of the communities that we've built. We serve the general population through our Cypress Creek communities, and we serve the active adult Population, otherwise known as seniors, but we don't like to be called seniors, so active adult population, and our Mariposa, for our Spanish-speaking friends, that means butterfly. Mariposa and Cypress Creek are two communities. We have two Mariposas and three

Cypress Creeks. We're intensely proud of what we've done. We care about the communities in which we develop. We care about our residents. We care about our team. We care about our mission and our principles. One last thing, I brought you commissioners a gift today. I turned into a chef over the years, and I make a ridiculously good pimento cheese. It's brought you one today, and I recommend you take it home. I'm going to give you the 8-second ride. It's called Hoot’s Bare Back Bronc because my nickname is Hoot. I grew up in the panhandle, and I rode bareback broncs in my high school rodeo. I’m going to pass these out to you and some of the other people. I highly recommend it. Thank you very much.

Carrie Compton, Resolution Company: I’m Carrie Compton. Thank y'all for having me. I'm here to give a brief overview of the Windshire Apartments and our development group, Resolution Companies. I am one of the development partners, along with Jeremy Bartholomew. Since 1980, the Resolution team has been working to address critical housing needs in the Houston market. Our mission is to develop and preserve best-in-class affordable housing while creating communities that our residents are proud to call home. We're excited about the opportunity to partner with HHA and preserve irreplaceable communities like Windshire, keeping it affordable for the area residents. Since its inception, Resolution Companies and its affiliated partners have developed and acquired over 10,000 multifamily units in Texas. We remain active in developing ground-up affordable properties, but given the complexities over the last several years with new construction, we have focused on ensuring existing affordable housing stock remains in the tax credit program via recent syndications. We believe this is of the utmost importance for our industry, considering the cost gap between renting and owning in the Houston area has never been larger, and the need for affordable units has never been greater. Between 15 and 20 years is common for communities to need new HVACs, new kitchens, appliances, roofs, and flooring. Rehabilitation requirements can range greatly, depending on the community, and Windshire is an excellent case study and the need for updating major systems, but not the need to relocate walls or structural elements or our residents. Windshire Apartments is a 252-unit community located in southeast Houston, jurisdictionally within the City of Houston limits and Harris County. Windshire was built in 2008 with irreplaceable features such as private entry garages and a masonry exterior. All units are income-restricted at 60% and would maintain at 60% or lower restrictions post-resyndication. It serves families with one, two, and three-bedroom units. In total, this will be a $40 million project. We are looking forward to the future and we are happy to answer any questions that you have. Thank you.

Joy Horak-Brown and Ron Lastimosa, New Hope Housing: Good afternoon. I'm Joy Horak-Brown, New Hope Housing President and CEO. I'm here together with our Vice President of Real Estate Development, Ron Lastimosa, will have a word or two to say to you in just a few moments. What I want to say to you, first of all, thank you and by the way, we are your largest customer. When it comes to housing choice vouchers, we’re your largest landlord. We don't think of ourselves as landlords because New Hope Housing is a nonprofit that works with the most disadvantaged and lowest-income citizens in our community. We also work with active seniors, as Stewart Shaw said, and with the general population of working people. They're very low-income level, I think $33,000 to $44,000 a year. We're very proud to be your partner for two properties that just opened, and if you didn't come to those grand openings, I sure hope you'll come to another one because we have fun. We have parties, not just ribbon cuttings. We are hoping very much for a bond inducement resolution so that we can continue our important mission-based work. Of course, I would be happy to answer any questions, and it's my great pleasure to introduce you to Ron Lastimosa, our Vice President of Real Estate Development.

Ron Lastimosa, New Hope Housing: Thank you, Joy. The development in front of you is The Boyd at Westover. It's a 144-unit development serving families with area median incomes of 60% and below. We will be serving one, two, and three-bedroom garden-style apartments. Amenities will include a splash pad, dog park, and other enriched spaces for our supportive services in our housing health services model. Thank you.

Emily Abelon, Brinshore: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for having us here. Obviously, you have a nice group of really talented developers and experienced folks in this space. My name is Emily Abelon, and I'm the Senior Vice President of Real Estate Development for Brinshore. I oversee our Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma markets, but I'm a lifelong Houstonian and I'm excited to be working in the city with you all. Brinshore has developed over 30 years across the country. We've got more than 12,000 units in operation, nine developments in Texas, and 110 communities across the country. We've had close to $5 billion in investments locally, and we, like others have mentioned, are also a very mission-centric, resident-centric organization. We almost exclusively work in partnership with housing authorities and nonprofits to deliver on their vision of either redevelopment of existing housing or putting new housing on the ground, and there are some really wonderful examples of work that we've been able to do in the City of Houston that I would be happy to tell you about later. Within the Housing Authority spectrum, we not only do individual transactions, but we also have done more than six Choice Neighborhood Developments and for those who are unfamiliar, that is a complete master redevelopment of an existing Housing Authority stock apartment homes and effectively what it does is double the number of units with half of those units being market rate to create a blended model of housing that really helps to elevate those communities. We are so pleased to have been selected as the Housing Authority's partner in the Cuney Homes redevelopment, which is going to equate to roughly 1,000 units on the ground, and the development that is in front of you today is the first phase of that. The first phase of that project, and we're so excited to be a part of this massive transformation. We see what's happening in the Third Ward, and its proximity to TSU and U of H makes it really ideal, and personally, as a lifelong Houstonian, it's a real privilege to work on this project. Like I said, it's the first phase, 4%, as you know, and it'll be 250 units; 20% of those will be market-rate serving families.

V. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

a. Board Meeting Minutes: September 16, 2025

On motion by Commissioner Smith and seconded by Commissioner Ballard; the Board approved the - September 16, 2025, Meeting Minutes.

VI. CEO OPERATIONAL UPDATES

Chairman Proler: Before we hear the CEO's operational update, I would like to make one brief comment. Last night, in case you're unaware, there was a news report on the local Channel 2 news that reflected commentsregarding the land purchase by the Housing Authority. I'm going to be real clearthat the purchase and that transaction were made by a previous board and by previous leadership, all of whom are no longer in any way affiliated with the Houston Housing Authority. In that vein, I'll turn it over to our CEO to discuss further.

CEO Bryant: Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for being here. Thank you for our perspective development parties, for coming and speaking a little bit about your companies, your mission, and your desire to be partners with the Housing Authority so that we can promote it to the board. I’m excited about the discussion we'll have later in the board meeting about these projects because across the folks who spoke today, there are over 1,000 units of affordable housing that we'll be on the docket today serving some of the lowest income residents in our community All great partners, all great things and so I thank you to those folks for coming and spending some time with us today.

I also wanted to use this opportunity to circle up on a few things that have occurred. Folks come to our meetings, and they hear public comments from residents and the community who come in and speak, and many times bring issues to the table that sometimes we're aware of and sometimes we are not. What I want to be clear about is that my direction to our staff is that we immediately take note of those and, in most cases, meet the resident out in the hallway or lobby, address their issues, have follow-ups with them, and sometimes the public, and even my Board of Commissioners are not always aware of what that follow-up is. So, I want to take the opportunity to discuss a few things that were brought up in last month's board meeting.

One was Independence Heights II, talking about our new development, and they were mainly supportive comments, with Pastor Jenkins talking about communication for future residents. I followed up with Pastor Jenkins and we spoke about how we're going to ensure as Independence Heights II gets developed that the residents of the Independence Heights community as a whole, are communicated with and get the knowledge and first shot at being able to apply for residency and leases in the new project and so that the community in which we are building gets to benefit first so we've followed up on that.

There was another comment from a woman who owns property near Cuney Homes, who received a letter from the Housing Authority over two years ago about our desire to purchase her property for the redevelopment of Cuney Homes. Unfortunately, the Housing Authority had not followed up with her, and she had been left in limbo for two years. Our team has researched the issue and has since followed up with her, and is following up with the other residents who received similar letters to let them know the status of that, and for the board's purposes, we are not purchasing those homes, and we are making sure that is crystal clear, but our apologies to the community for that communication oversight that has taken place.

The last issue, which several residents came and spoke about, was an issue around public safety, security and vagrancy that was occurring across the street from Independence Heights II at the Independence Heights project and of which we were where we were holding our meeting last month, and several issues were going on there, and our team immediately, even though the meeting was still going on, jumped on it with security and management. And because of the level of that issue and the severity of it, I've asked our Director of Security, Mr. Brian Terry, to come up here and spend a couple of minutes updating the board and the public on the actions that have happened over the last 30 days.

Brian Terry, Director of Security

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

Chairman Proler: Donna, can you please make sure his mic is working? I want to make sure everyone can hear this.

Good afternoon, Chairman and Commissioners. Following residents' concerns at our last meeting, we took immediate action at Independence Heights. We met with residents, the property manager, and Houston Police Department officers to assess the security situation and develop an action plan that would yield immediate results. We wanted action, quick and fast.

We identified four key issues. (1) Students from a nearby high school were trespassing during morning hours before school and after school, engaging in disruptive behavior, causing disturbances while smoking marijuana, according to the residents. (2) Homeless individuals were sleeping at night in common areas and hallways of Building 4. (3) Unsecured garage gates in Building 8 allowed easy access to the unwanted individuals. Loitering by non-residents, also including those who were dumpster diving. So those were the four key areas that we focused on. In response, we've implemented several measures. One, we hired off duty officers for targeted patrols. HPD coordinated with HISD police to address student behavior.

Trespassing laws were starting to be enforced. A vendor has been selected to upgrade the key fobs for residents who open the vehicle garage doors and the doors to Building 8 to get into the hallways to their units. That project is expected to be completed by the end of next week. Also, Independence Heights is on our list of properties where we are upgrading the security cameras. We're already installing cameras at Irvinton Village, and we're moving on to Kelly Village next, and as we work through our portfolio to put security surveillance cameras on our properties. Lastly, on October 7th, we engaged with residents through a coordinated National Night Out with management and law enforcement. Because we know that the community working alongside law enforcement is the only way that we're going to combat crime, and it's a responsibility for all, not just law enforcement, to make that happen.

At all the meetings I attend with the residents, I always say, 'See something, say something,' and we do it all the time. But I also tell them, 'Do something.' We're happy that the residents of Independence Heights decided to do something. They made some noise, they got our attention, and of course, we went into action once that happened. We are seeing results. That's the good news. Student activity and overnight loitering have decreased. The homeless are no longer coming onto the property at night to sleep. The dumpster divers have been warned. Residents have reported feeling safer and noticing a significant difference since we initiated the operation. So we will continue to monitor and work closely with the residents, work closely with law enforcement, and work closely with management, keeping a close eye on things and staying there as long as necessary.

One of the officers I've met and grown close to is here today. Officer Walker is one that we work with closely to make this happen. He's here on his day off. He said he’s not dressed for this, but he came to show his support. He actually works that beat, and he goes by there on his duty time between when he has calls for service. So he's a big supporter of what we're doing at Independence Heights and we appreciate him and his team he put together,so we can make things better out there for the community. That concludes my report.

Commissioner Smith: Is it proper to make comments?

Chairman Proler: Not yet. Wait until after the CEO report.

CEO REPORT continues.

Thank you, Brian and officers, and to the whole team, who put forth this effort. It is super important not just for our residents who currently live there, but as we continue to invest in that community to help lift it up as a as a whole, it's a great community that's on the rise and I appreciate the immediate efforts after that and to the public, please do not be afraid to show up at this board meeting and bring us these issues. We have a large portfolio, thousands and thousands of residents, a hundred thousand clients across the city, and we don't always know the issues. So, we welcome your comments, and I assure you we will address them and act accordingly as we have done here. And so thank you, Brian, for the report.

As the Chairman mentioned, I wanted to address what was in the news yesterday and provide a couple of clarifications, both with the public and from my commissioners. As part of my commitment to transparency and better relations with the public and media, I've been in contact with our main media contacts and outlets from the first day I took this seat. It was very important to me, and so Ms. Davis and others in the media have brought to light many of the issues regarding decisions that were made by the former leadership and administration of this agency. I want to assure you that things like last night that came about, we were aware of, and in fact, my team has cooperated with the press and their inquiries, and we've worked with them to bring these issues to light and provide full transparency. The report yesterday surrounded the acquisition of a property on Conti. Conti, for those that don't know, is right there at the intersection of I-59

and I-10 just outside of downtown. It used to have the old church there that had a Dome on it for those of you who may not have remembered it, but drove by it several times. Ms. Davis and I started discussing this topic about six months ago when she started looking into it, and I found a lot of her questions troubling that

I couldn't answer as well. And so we helped her with her investigation, we provided information, and you know, a lot of the relationships that she brought forth in her investigation last night, between the seller and former staff and board members here was questioning and was troubling. We thank her for her work on it, and while her story was comprehensive, she only gets a certain amount of time, and I only get a certain amount of time to speak, but this is the platform I can use, so I want to take this opportunity to clarify and reiterate a couple of important items. One, our Chairman has already made, that this transaction took place several years ago. In fact, the discussions on Conti, I believe, started in 2020, and the tract was purchased in 2023 by the housing authority. This all happened under a former board, a former administration, a former leadership, a former mayor’s office, and was not related to anybody who's here today. Mayor Whitmire, when he was elected, as you know, he decided to bring in a new board and a new chairman, and this board has done the hard work over the last 18 months to make many hard decisions, but good decisions to move things forward. so while we can sit here today and accurately say that we were not there and did not make these decisions, it does not change the fact that we are responsible for those decisions as a board and as leadership, and we are responsible for what we've inherited. So this site, Conti, for example, while Ms. Davis was correct in saying we do not have concrete plans for it, it was not fully accurate to say we've not been planning for it.

What I mean by that is we've been looking across the entire portfolio of the land holdings that the Housing Authority owns and controls, and looking at how we best put those to use for the benefit of our citizens, for the mission of this agency, and to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Some of them though, have particular issues around them depending on where they are and so Conti, for example, as many people in this room are probably aware, being at the intersection of I-59 and I-10, The Texas Department of Transportation is planning a major highway reconstruction in that area and has been for years that could and will displace additional housing in the area so we are working and have meetings with TxDot on a monthly basis and we are waiting to understand the full impact of the housing in that area to see what the best use for Conti will be. The same goes for other land sites around but I can assure you that these assets of the Housing Authority, we will have a full plan in 2026 for how these assets are going to be used for the mission of this agency, or if need be and we don't have a use for them, we will sell them off and use the money to support other programs of this agency. We're committed to our mission here. We're called to serve. To serve our clients and residents, to serve the stakeholders of this community, and to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. We've made a lot of great strides over the last eight months. I'm super proud of the team we have here, the work we're doing. I'm super excited and thankful for the support of this Board of Commissioners and the public, but there's still a lot of work to be done, and so again, I thank you for your grace and patience. There are a lot of good things coming, and we look forward to the coming months and in 2026, when you can start to really see the impact of some of the changes that have been made this year as they come forward next year, and so with that, Chairman, I'll yield the floor back to you and we can go on with the agenda.

Chairman Proler: Amen. Thank you. We will now open it up for new business. I'm sorry, I apologize, Vice Chairman Smith, if you had a comment,

Commissioner Smith: I'm really impressed with the young man who made the announcement of what happened at Independence Heights. I heard those complaints, you know, I don't know the lady's name, but she was quite articulate and concerned, and I am completely shocked and happy that the situation has been corrected, and I'm sure you know the individuals living at Independence Heights feel a lot better about how the Housing Authority responded and will continue to bring issues out to us. We probably should follow up with them again later on to see how things are going, to show them that we are serious about our business and we're going to take care of the folks that live near or at our properties. Thank you for a job well done.

Chairman Proler: Thank you, Brian, for a job well done.

VII. NEW BUSINESS

a. Resolution No. 3924: Consideration and/or take action to approve a policy governing the remote attendance of Commissioners at Board meetings.

PRESENTED BY: Neal J. Rackleff, Executive VP and COO.

This is a resolution that some of us have talked about. The question arose: Should we allow remote or virtual participation at board meetings? The consensus, I think, of the commissioners was that it's really important that we have face to face communication and that people are here personally because that's just a much better environment for everybody so this resolution sets forth a policy that simply says that there can only be remote participation or virtual participation, by a member of the board, in a board meeting under certain exigent or extreme circumstances such as a personal illness, a family emergency, a disability or something like that, and that can only take place if the board chairman approves of it in advance. Additionally, there must be a quorum of board members here in person, present. The virtual person cannot count towards the quorum, and when, under those limited circumstances, someone participates virtually, there must also be real-time audio and video communication so that both parties can communicate back and forth. The person who is on the remote side has to make sure that they observe all of the appropriate safeguards of the Texas Open Meetings Act, including securing their environment. If they're in a closed session, they're making sure that it is safe, secure, and appropriate. So, that's what this resolution does: it lays out the policy for remote participation in our board meetings, and I am happy to entertain any questions.

Secretary Bryant: And just to add one clarification to that, it does not change anything related to our policy to live-stream our meetings and post those videos afterward for the public. This is only related to commissioner participation.

Chairman Proler: Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ll entertain a motion to approve Resolution No. 3924. On motion by Commissioner Li and seconded by Commissioner Ballard.

Chairman Proler asked if there is any discussion regarding this resolution. Hearing none, Chairman Proler called for a vote.

The Board approved Resolution No. 3924.

b. Resolution No. 3925: Consideration and/or take action to approve an Investment Policy consistent with the Texas Public Funds Investment Act and to authorize the President & CEO to appoint an Investment Officer and such other investment staff as is necessary to comply with the Investment Policy.

PRESENTED BY: Neal J. Rackleff, Executive VP and COO.

There is an important law that applies to the Housing Authority, which is Texas Government Code Chapter 2256, commonly known as the Texas Public Funds Investment Act, and that act simply says that if you are a governmental entity, a local governmental entity in Texas, you by law have to adopt an investment policy that simply makes sure that the kinds of investments that you put your surplus funds into, are very safe and are very secure. So whether you're a little municipal utility district board in Texas or a school district or a city, this Public Funds Investment Act applies to you. Now, in our ongoing effort to make sure that we're complying with all areas of the law, we realized that we had not formally adopted a resolution and a policy implementing the Texas Public Funds Investment Act principles, and so this resolution lays out an investment policy. It's also really important for you to know that the Public Funds Investment Act says you've got to be very conservative in where you put your money. You can't go invest in crazy stocks or hedge funds or something wacky, right? Or high risk, I guess, is a more accurate term or more relevant. You have to be safe in what you do. This agency has been following the substance and spirit of the Public Funds Investment Act because we have safeguarded our surplus funds in a very, very safe manner. They're just in bank accounts earning interest rates, so we have complied in substance. This will allow us to comply with each job to the letter of the law, and it delegates to the CEO the authority to appoint an investment officer who has to have a certain amount of training to make sure that we comply with this state statute.

Chairman Proler: Thank you. On a personal note, this resolution is near and dear to my heart. I've really wanted to see this for a long time, so I will entertain a motion to approve Resolution No. 3925.

On motion by Commissioner Li and seconded by Commissioner Ballard.

Chairman Proler asked if there is any discussion regarding this resolution. Hearing none, Chairman Proler called for a vote.

The Board approved Resolution No. 3925.

c. Resolution No. 3926: Consideration and/or take action to authorize Houston Housing Authority’s gap financing in the amount of $500,000.00 for the development of Trinity East Senior, to be located at approximately 2620 Live Oak Street, Houston, Texas 77004.

PRESENTED BY: Lynn Henson, Choice Neighborhood Director

Good afternoon, Chairman and Commissioners. Resolution No. 3926 asks the Board of Commissioners to authorize $500,000 in GAP financing for the Trinity East Senior development. This project is located on Live Oak and McGowan. That's just east of Emancipation Ave. in Third Ward. This is a multifamily affordable housing development for individuals who are aged 62 and older. There are 90 units. These units are one bedroom units. HHA will provide 81 project-based vouchers, 60 of which are reserved for the Choice Neighborhood Cuney Homes redevelopment. These are replacement units for that CNI project. This is a loan. It is for 40 years and will earn 3% interest. Our partners in the CNI project are Trinity East Village CDC, NHP Foundation, and TE Affordable Developer, LLC. This project is supported by the Third Ward community. The Trinity East Methodist Church is the oldest black Methodist Church in the City of Houston. This project is important to the Cuney Homes redevelopment because it is part of our Build First model. That's an opportunity for us to have affordable housing available so that our tenants, as many as possible, will only have to move once, minimizing disruptions to their lives. This project was also awarded a 9% Low Income Housing Tax credit by the TDHCA this past June. This project may be familiar to you because it came before the Board in the end of 2024, where the Board approved to execute a memorandum of understanding for this project. With that, I'll open the floor for questions.

Chairman Proler: I have a couple. Walk me through kind of the sources and uses of this $500,000 gap financing. Are we making up a shortfall or…define the terminology. Is the budgeting process…

Secretary Bryant: There was a shortfall between the sources and uses when this project was presented. The Housing Authority, in December, in the MOU, committed to bridging that gap with a form of financing, so this has been contemplated since day one. Where we're at now is buttoning up that structure of that, which is a loan versus equity or any other contribution, and we have waited until this point because, until we got the award from TDHCA, we didn't know if this project was going forward. Now that it is going forward, and to remind our Board of Commissioners, this was the project that Lynn, Mr. Terry, and Mr. Rackleff spent an inordinate amount of time working on to get approved in Austin because of safety concerns and working with HPD there. Now, the state is requiring us to formalize the documentation on the gap financing.

Chairman Proler: And is it my understanding that some of the gap financing will be used for additional security in the area?

Secretary Bryant: Yes and no. I mean, the money is fungible for the uses of it, but that is correct. We have budgeted additional security provisions and on-site security provisions, although the funding is not tied directly to that, but it is all part of the same sources and uses. And as a reminder as well, I mean, Lynn spoke to the fact of that it's part of the Cuney Choice Neighborhood Initiative, also as our friends from New Hope are here. The New Hope Housing Gray development, which we just celebrated and opened three weeks ago, is about three blocks from Trinity East Church, and so we have already made an investment in this neighborhood with New Hope. You're continuing to make an investment in this neighborhood with the Trinity East project and with the community as a whole. So this just adds to the larger development and investment the Housing Authority is making in the Third Ward.

Chairman Proler: Any other questions?

(There were no more questions.)

Chairman Proler asked for a motion to approve Resolution No. 3926.

On motion by Commissioner Smith and seconded by Commissioner Ballard.

Chairman Proler asked if there is any discussion regarding this resolution. Hearing none, Chairman Proler called for a vote.

The Board approved Resolution No. 3926.

d. Resolution No. 3927: Consideration and/or take action to authorize the renewal of employee health and welfare benefits for the Houston Housing Authority (“HHA”) effective January 1, 2026, specifically regarding Health and Welfare Renewal Decisions for Medical, Dental, Vision, Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (“AD&D”), and Short-Term/Long-Term Disability (“STD/LTD”).

PRESENTED BY: Rizvan Quadri, Director of Human Resources, Training & Development

Good afternoon. Commissioners, Chairman. It's that time of year. This resolution is regarding the renewal of the HHA employee health and welfare benefits program, which includes medical, dental, and other ancillary benefits starting January 1, 2026. Just to add some context, for the past three years, HHA has benefited from nearly flat rate changes at almost 0% increases. This is truly due, in major part, to our esteemed benefits broker, Gallagher Benefit Services. They are in the back, John and Courtney. They've been tremendous partners for us for the last several years, and their diligence in trying to get the best rates has been top-notch. However, we were aware that an increase was due this coming year for three specific reasons which has affected all the industries and sectors. (1) rising healthcare costs. I think we can also speak to that (2) more expensive drugs and (3) greater use of high-cost treatments. These factors drove the initial proposed medical rate increases from our current carrier, Cigna, to 37.6%, which is over $1,000,000. Through negotiation and with work with our team here at Gallagher and our solid partnership with Cigna, I'm happy to say that we secured the much lower increase of 15% or less, which is the savings of almost $650,000, which is amazing because we weren’t sure what to expect, but thankfully because of our strong partnership with Cigna, they did reduce it to 15% or less. So in terms of our employees and how they'll benefit, deductibles and copays will remain the same. There will be a slight increase in the monthly rates, which was expected. To offset those increases, I know we're looking internally to see what we can do to help our employees in that regard as well. We're fortunate to have an Executive leadership team that is willing to be assistant and diligent in helping our employees see minimal changes to the plan premiums. So, in light of all this, we ask the Board of Commissioners to authorize the CEO to take all necessary actions to approve the renewal of medical and ancillary benefits. Thank you.

Chairman Proler: Luke Joseph, I have one question on this. With this increase, it sounds like the numbers are ±$300,000 to $400,000, if I heard this correctly. Have we built that into the 26 budget?

Mr.Joseph: Yes, it's going to be in the budget.

Commissioner Smith: I have one question. Are the other housing authorities having the same issue with the increase?

Mr. Quadri: All industries, all sectors, not just housing. As a matter of fact, in some other sectors, they're seeing between 20% to 30% increases, and no one's budging from that. We're very fortunate that we were able to get to the teens.

Chairman Proler: I'm just curious, in previous years, Mike, what has been the historical increases on a percentage basis?

Mr. Rogers: It has been flat for about the last three years.

Chairman Proler: Flat?

Mr. Quadri: Yes.

Mr. Rogers: We haven't really had any increases. Prior to that period of time, these types of rate increases were ones that we were experiencing.

Chairman Proler asked for a motion to approve Resolution No. 3927 as submitted.

On motion by Commissioner Li and seconded by Commissioner Ballard.

Chairman Proler asked if there is any discussion regarding this resolution. Hearing none, Chairman Proler called for a vote.

The Board approved Resolution No. 3927.

VIII. EXECUTIVE SESSION

Chairman Proler suspended the Public Session on Thursday, October 16, 2025, at 2:47 p.m. to convene an Executive Session to discuss personnel, legal, and real estate issues in accordance with Sections 551.074, 551.071, and 551.072, respectively, of the Texas Government Code.

Chairman Proler was in attendance during the Executive Session but did not return to the general meeting. Secretary Jamie Bryant conducted the meeting in the Chairman’s absence.

IX. RECONVENE PUBLIC SESSION

Secretary Bryant reconvened the Public Session at 3:33 p.m.

X. ADJOURNMENT

Secretary Bryant asked for a motion to adjourn.

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