Update: On January 21, the board of the San Antonio Housing Authority announced dramatic changes to its plans for the Alazán-Apache Courts, including that the agency has cancelled its proposed partnership with the private developer NRP Group. As it proceeds with redeveloping the project, the agency says, it now has new goals including keeping “all residents within Alazán” and “maintaining or growing” the number of public housing units at the Alazán-Apache site. Community activists cheered the changes.
On a Thursday in early November, nearly 70 San Antonians showed up via Zoom to address the board of the San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA), a quasi-governmental agency that oversees the city’s public housing and Section 8 vouchers. Due to the unusual volume of people, the board chair cut individuals’ speaking time from 3 minutes to a minute and a half. In 90-second bursts, often interrupted by technical difficulties, a stream of community activists, academics, and public housing tenants commented on SAHA’s plans to demolish and redevelop the Alazán-Apache Courts, San Antonio’s oldest and largest public housing development, with most opposing the plan.
“This is [our] last big public housing development and when it’s gone, it’s gone forever,” said Sofía López, a housing justice activist who served on the SAHA board until last fall and opposed the redevelopment. López also took aim at SAHA’s CEO, David Nisivoccia, who’s leaving this January to lead the housing authority in Denver. “You won’t be here, and it’ll fall on this community to pick up the pieces.”
