The Houston Housing Authority voted Tuesday to rebrand as Housing Alliance HTX.
,It did email a copy of the memorandum related to the agenda item, which states that the name reflects “a new vision and era of leadership” that will be “in alliance with the community.” The memo says that when the housing authority conducted research to see what words resonated with stakeholders, the word “alliance” was associated with “trust.” As recently as October, the housing authority posted its entire board packet, including memorandums, online before its meetings, but it has since stopped the practice. The authority said it will resume posting the packets.
And it said that the rebrand will include a new logo, a new tag line ("Opening Doors. Impacting Lives"), and a new website, alliancehtx.org. The new name and logo will roll out across buildings, signage and documents over the coming months, and the old website will now redirect to the new one. Residents will also receive direct communication about the transition, the authority said. The new design, website, and signage have cost about $70,000.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the new name and logo were already on the wall behind the board as they readied to vote; the housing authority’s president, Jamie Bryant, wore a T-shirt with the words “Housing Alliance HTX.”
“This is not a marketing thing at all,” he said before the vote. “There were very many things about the word housing authority, that over the years, unfortunately, whether we like it or not, had brought up negative connotations.” He said the word “authority” evoked a power dynamic they wanted to move away from. “That’s where the idea of an alliance came from.”
The housing authority is in the middle of a major transformation that involves phasing out public housing and has drawn criticism in recent years.
In 2024, the authority voted to move entirely away from public housing, its hallmark since the 1930s. It has plans to redevelop all of its public housing complexes, replacing its deeply affordable units with units subsidized by project-based vouchers. The change allows the housing authority to move away from a federal funding source that had long been insufficient for repairs and invest in its communities.
Housing advocates say they’re watching whether communities are separated during the transition and whether accountability will become more difficult when private developers take on maintenance, rather than the authority itself. Bryant, who took the reins as the housing authority’s president in 2025, has a history in mixed-use development — he was previously an executive at the company now developing the $2.5-billion East River — and has called the redevelopment of the agency’s oldest public housing complex, Cuney Homes, “one of the most impactful undertakings HHA has ever led.”
Independent auditors have also repeatedly found significant issues with how the authority runs its housing programs, including its voucher program, which has been found to lack the paperwork showing tenants' continued eligibility. The past president resigned in late 2024 after the board authorized an investigation into his conduct. And an investigation by outside counsel found that the authority’s mismanagement of air conditioning contracts cost the agency millions of dollars and led to headaches for residents. After those investigations, the housing authority voted in 2025 to pay a public relations firm specializing in crisis communications up to $750,000 “to fortify the reputation of the HHA.”
The Houston Housing Authority was established in 1938 to provide safe and sanitary housing for households with low to moderate incomes and has been known by its current name for almost a century.
Most housing authorities across the country follow a similar naming formula, identifying themselves as the housing authority of a specific geographic region. But an increasing number, like San Antonio’s housing authority, have changed their names in an attempt to signal a new direction for their organizations.
“This new identity as Housing Alliance HTX reflects our belief that moving forward we will do our best work together,” said Bryant in a release.
