This article has been updated.

The board of Opportunity Home San Antonio, the region’s federally-funded housing authority, voted unanimously to oust President and CEO Ed Hinojosa Jr. on Wednesday. Another unanimous vote appointed Michael Reyes, public affairs officer, as acting president and CEO.

Hinojosa and members of the board declined to comment immediately after the agency’s board meeting, which abruptly ended after a three-hour closed-door session around 6:15 p.m.

“It is not lost on this board the magnitude of this change, but we believe it is needed to propel the organization into the future,” board chair Gabriel Lopez said from the dais after the votes. “We ask the acting president and CEO take immediate, bold action to safeguard our families and to find creative solutions to the challenges this organization is facing.” 

Some Opportunity Home staff members present in the board room shared tearful embraces, but none commented on the vote.

The vote comes after several board members said last month they were “shocked” and “horrified” by the agency’s rollout of notices to vacate for about 600 San Antonio families and individuals living in public housing. Those households had debt for more than 12 months, in amounts ranging from $1 to more than $10,000.

The 600 notices — which are not eviction notices but are the first step in the eviction process — were the first Opportunity Home has issued to public housing residents due to nonpayment since the pandemic-related eviction moratorium.

“The board appreciates Mr. Hinojosa’s service to the organization and his championing of increasing affordable housing opportunities in our city,” the board of commissioners wrote in a statement released after the meeting announcing the change in leadership. “… We know we have the most dedicated public servants working at the organization and residents full of promise. We are confident and excited about the future of Opportunity Home.”

Housing as a human right

Hinojosa had worked at what was then known as the San Antonio Housing Authority for 17 years, including 12 years as chief financial officer, when he was appointed interim CEO in January 2021. Former head David Nisivoccia left to lead the Denver Housing Authority. Six months later, the agency’s board selected Hinojosa to fill the seat permanently.

Soon after taking the helm, Hinojosa reversed course on a controversial plan to raze and redevelop the Alazán-Apache Courts, the city’s largest and oldest public housing complex. The move earned him respect among housing advocates and activists and signaled the agency’s shift away from mixed-income partnerships with private developers who receive tax credits.

A press release from July 2021 announcing his selection for the permanent role said Hinojosa would lead the effort to change “the agency’s approach to treat housing as a human right.” 

In August 2022, the agency rebranded as Opportunity Home, an initiative Hinojosa and Reyes worked closely on together.

Hinojosa at the time said San Antonio had lost 1,700 public housing units.

“That’s going in the wrong direction,” he said. “At the start of the pandemic, we had 35,000 families on our waitlist [for housing]. Today, we have 70,000 families on our waitlist.”

Now, that waitlist has ballooned to about 113,000 households.

“I support the Opportunity Home board’s unanimous decision and renewed direction to develop more effective solutions to address the growing waiting list, improve current housing conditions, and enhance overall resident welfare and safety,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg via text. “Our community remains committed to implementing the City’s Strategic Housing Implementation Plan and ensuring every San Antonio resident, regardless of circumstance, has access to safe, quality and affordable housing.”

Kayla Miranda, who lives at the agency’s Alazán-Apache Courts and is a housing justice advocate with the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, said she wasn’t surprised by Hinojosa’s ouster.

Miranda suspects the board has been planning this for some time, noting that Reyes, whose first home was at Alazán-Apache Courts, replaced Hinojosa on the city’s Housing Commission last year.

She defended Hinojosa and said the board’s decision to fire him was a mistake.

“Ed Hinojosa was exactly the type of person it takes to run a housing authority, and I am absolutely against his being fired,” she said via text. “The board made the mistake [with notices to vacate] and they took it out on him. … We will suffer because of it. All public housing residents will suffer.” 

Budget woes

Tensions between the board and Hinojosa became public at its May 1 meeting.

The agency must restart collecting rent, Lopez said after the meeting, noting that the agency is facing a potential $18 million deficit for fiscal year 2024. That’s up from $846,000 in fiscal year 2021.

“We said that our priority was to keep people housed,” Hinojosa said at the time. “Now we’re being asked for a [different] plan … on how to move forward.”

But that “compassion can’t be at the expense of the organization,” Lopez said. “Because we have a bigger calling to take care of … the other residents that are in public housing and those that are sitting on our waitlist.”

During a mid-May compliance review, just weeks after the board admonished the notice-to-vacate rollout, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found Opportunity Home was aligned with all program requirements and regulations — except for its failure to collect rent.

“The total amount in uncollected rent is more than $2 million,” the HUD compliance report states. “[Opportunity Home] has communicated this challenge to its Board of Directors and has started to implement a process to address the arrears through repayment agreements and evictions in some cases. This is a low-risk finding as [Opportunity Home] has addressed the non-compliance and HUD will monitor for close-out.”