El Paso County Housing Authority seeks partnership with County Commissioners

The El Paso County Housing Authority presented its quarterly report to county commissioners on Monday, in an effort to establish a partnership between the two entities.

The County housing authority is not under the jurisdiction of the County government, and therefore it is seeking additional funding.

The housing authority is currently working with the El Paso Coalition for the Homeless. The Coalition reports there are over 1,100 homeless people in El Paso County, 400 of which are children.

“I was surprised, I didn’t know it was that high,” said Miguel Hernandez, County housing authority executive director. “That’s something that I know myself, along with my team and the commissioners — they have a passion to serve the community.”

Hernandez said the authority has been forced to change its five-year strategic plan due to finances. The Trump Administration has cut funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by 13.2 percent —

“That translates to $6.2 billion. That of course disseminates down HUD, and that’s going to affect all housing authorities,” Hernandez said. “I know that the county commissioners court has a lot of faith in what we’re doing and support.”

The authority only has two different complexes, both located Fabens. That’s a total of 80 units, but Hernandez said that’s not nearly enough.

“We have to be creative in a way that we can re-budget,” Hernandez said. “We know we cannot waste time. We need to start meeting in order for us to draft good plans to address homelessness.”

County judge Veronica Escobar said she looks forward to working with the authority.

“The county housing authority has really come a long way from where it was,” Escobar said. “It is such a big problem that one entity and one organization cannot do it alone.”