Brenham Housing Authority

The idea came about in 1970 when Lt Colonel L T Ray (retired, U. S. Air Force) was approached by the State of Texas group "Urban Renewal Agency". Ray was busy finishing out his degree work at TAMU and doing some independent contract work by flying for a mapping company at the time. The Urban Renewal Agency asked if he would be interested in supervising the construction of what would be Brenham Housing Authority. He said he would oversee the construction but would not be interested in running it after the completion.

The concept of Brenham Housing Authority was based upon a program of federally assisted housing for low income families and individuals who qualified based upon family status and income. The original concept would encompass 100 units on the east side of Bluebell Road. This development was named Sunnyside Terrace. The property was owned by several individual families and negotiations began to purchase the property and obtain clear titles. The land negotiation was time consuming and tedious. Fitch & Holdriedge of Houston were retained to design and engineer the project and Belco Construction Company retained as General Contractors. Lt. Colonel Ray supervised the groundbreaking and construction which began in November 1971.  The construction process itself went smooth with no major problems. Torrential rains inhibited construction and created the need for a major drainage system to be installed near the creek.  Prior to construction completion, funding for an additional 60 units became available and more units were added for a total of 160.This new addition would be called Fairview Terrace. Construction continued and the units were completed and ready for occupancy the summer of 1972.  Land on Rink street was purchased and 70 additional units were constructed there also. This third development would be called Crestview Terrace.

The Board of Commissioners (Ed Mickan, Josie Williams, Milton Krause, Taft Harris, W. F. Burt – Chairman, and Julian Weisler) asked Ray if he would consider managing the property after the construction phase as Executive Director. He stated that he had made so many promises here in town that it would seem that he would have to stay and see that those promises were kept. Ray had encountered obstacles while obtaining land to build the developments because people in town did not want low income housing and would not sell. Ray negotiated for months to obtain the land and  was finally able to convince land owners to sell due in part to the promises he made to land owners as to how exactly this would be run. He stayed on to fulfill those promises and feels to this day that we have met or exceeded those ideals.

Housing needs demanded that yet more units would be needed and land on Hwy 36 North was available.  Stratford Properties had just built 50 Senior units next to this land. This would be managed by BHA and named Northside Terrace. Construction began on the 70 family units now known as Northview on highway 36. At the time of completion, BHA offices relocated from the SHAPe Center to Northside Terrace, where they remain to this day.

In 2014, Brenham Housing Authority (BHA) realized that many of its units were in need of significant capital improvements. A critical needs assessment was done.  This assessment showed that while some of the units could be rehabbed, many were past the point of being able to be rehabbed. In 2015, BHA applied for 4% tax credits to rehab 66 units at Northview Village.  After these units were rehabbed, in 2017, BHA applied for 9% tax credits to build 80 additional units at Parklane Villas. In 2018, families from 80 Public Housing units were transferred into Parklane Villas under HUD's RAD (Rental Assistance Demostration) conversion program.

Currently, BHA is in Phase 3 of its redevelopment plan.  We have 80 units remaining in the area of Sunnyside Terrace.  These units were built in the early 1970’s, and are past the point of being able to be rehabbed.  The previous 2 projects were performed under HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD).  However, for this third phase, BHA has decided to use HUD’s Demo/Disposition authority under Section 18 to support the redevelopment activities of the remaining 80 units. Under this plan 78 Tenant Protection Vouchers were approved and were Project Based to the new 80 unit development called Fairview Terrace.  This new development is located at 909 Hasskarl Drive.