Texas Housing Foundation hires new CEO, amends budget deficit
Chief Operating Officer Allison Milliorn became the chief executive officer of the Texas Housing Foundation on Aug. 27, 2024. Courtesy photo
The Texas Housing Foundation board hired a new CEO at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 27. Chief Operating Officer Allison Milliorn replaces Mark Mayfield, who retired from the position in July. She began the job immediately after the vote, which followed three hours of interviews with three candidates in executive session.
Also considered were Dominic “Nick” Audino, the foundation’s general counsel, and Jonathan Coreas, its director of development.
“When we were first looking into hiring a CEO a couple of months ago, we decided we had three excellent candidates in-house,” foundation board Chair Susan Hamm told DailyTrib.com. “It was a difficult decision. We were so blessed to have three excellent candidates with the same passions for our goals and values.”
Milliorn has worked for the Texas Housing Foundation in various capacities for 16 years. A trained certified public accountant, she became chief operating officer about five years ago.
The board also approved an amended 2024 budget that shows a credit of $5,215.88 rather than the original deficit of $1.2 million. The foundation’s fiscal year is from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. The board approved the 2024 deficit budget in November 2023.
“We’ve never had a positive budget before,” Milliorn told the board. “We are on a new path.”
The turn-around came at a price, she admitted. Sixty staffers were told via Zoom on Aug. 2 that their jobs would be terminated as of Oct. 31. Of those, 15 were in Marble Falls, including employees in the property management division and the Community Resource Center, which is funded by the Texas Housing Foundation.
Seven of those 15 people have found new jobs. Milliorn said the foundation is working with the rest to help place them in new positions. All property management employees have been rehired by the three management companies taking over THF’s properties statewide on Sept. 1. Employees will retain their seniority and accrued vacation time in the transition.
“It has been pretty painful for a period of time, and it will be painful for a while longer” Milliorn told DailyTrib.com after the meeting. “But we have a plan in place. I have no concerns that it will right itself.”
To make that plan work, the THF has changed its basic philosophy of property ownership to include partnerships with developers for its affordable housing complexes and finding low-cost space for its community resource centers.
The new resource center model is underway in Kingsland, where a CRC is expanding into a building owned by First Baptist Church of Kingsland. The Sharing the Harvest food pantry and the Pregnancy and Life Center will also use the space and help financially with a needed facelift.
Another new partner in Kingsland is the Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Centers, which is headquartered in Kerrville and serves 19 counties, including Llano and Blanco counties. Work should be completed by November for a grand opening event that will include a hot Thanksgiving meal.
The building is being leased from First Baptist Church for free.
“I love that we are putting funds into services rather than a building,” THF board member Dave Edwards (Hays County) said at the Tuesday meeting. “And I love that we are on budget.”
The property ownership change reverses a previous trend when the Texas Housing Foundation ended outside partnerships and bought all of the affordable housing properties outright. Now, those sole holdings (properties owned 100 percent by the foundation) will be offered to developers in limited partnerships. Outside companies will handle all property management.
“We won’t have majority ownership, but we will have majority control,” Milliorn said at the meeting. She added that the developers must be “missionly” aligned with the THF to be considered for partnerships.
The Texas Housing Foundation develops affordable housing in rural communities while connecting residents with needed community services through its Community Resource Centers. Some CRCs are located on rental properties, where nonprofits are given space to work one on one with clients. (Clients do not have to be residents.)
Another change underway is to charge minimal rent to nonprofits using CRC space, either in an apartment complex or at a center like the one in Marble Falls.
“We have been giving that space away at no cost,” Milliorn said. “We won’t be charging a ton of rent, but we need to find a model to help pay utilities and cover needed repairs.”
THF administration staff plan to improve the foundation’s finances and develop a reserve by selling its building at 1101 Broadway in Marble Falls and moving offices to the Community Resource Center next door.
“We will never give up the CRC building,” Milliorn told DailyTrib.com.
The THF property is not currently on the market.
“We have some (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) restrictions to take care of before we can sell,” she said.
The administration is drawing up new finance policies, which will be presented to the board for a first read in October and possible approval in November. That is also the timeline for developing and approving the 2025 budget.
“The CRCs are taking the brunt of a lot of these changes,” Milliorn said at the end of the Tuesday meeting. “We will be providing the same level of service, but the buildings will be changing.”