New Texas state housing agency director discusses reorganization, relying on fewer, larger contractors

Tim Irvine, named executive director of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs just a couple of months ago, announced at last week’s board meeting a major staff reorganization and a new relationship with housing providers.

Irvine announced the department will seek to work with larger, more administratively capable contractors to carry out the agency’s programs. “This is a very intentional effort at moving money faster,” Irvine explained. Citing a need to eliminate regional gaps in service availability and a need to get funds expended more quickly, he noted problems TDHCA encountered trying to deliver programs through smaller contractors using the unprecedented level of funding under the Recovery Act. Irvine summed up the new direction, “What we want to create is improvement and migration to a more robust network of fewer, larger providers capable of administering our programs in a way where all eligible Texans can access all of our programs.”

Here is a video capture of Irvine’s remarks at the board meeting.