260 | Business World Magazine |
October 2013
Harris County Housing Authority apart
from others. Whereas public housing and
affordable assisted developments in many
communities often fail to reflect certain
high standards of quality or aesthetic
that one might want, in Harris County, it
would be difficult to discern the assisted
housing from any other market rate mul-
tifamily community, and in this case,
there really isn’t a difference. Through
partnerships with the private sector and
utilization of federal grants, HCHA has
remarkably transitioned beyond the con-
ventional standards associated with af-
fordable housing to create sustainable
communities where the quality in the ar-
chitectural, interior and exterior elements
may be only exceeded by the services and
programs which ultimately combine to
position the communities among the most
desirable of places to live.
As Development Director Paula
Burns explains, “HCHA has improved on
the design concept of affordable assisted
housing to make it more aesthetically
pleasing and marketable.” While doing
