Michael Karlis
San Antonio Tenants Union organizers speak to reporters last year about the lack of security at Opportunity Home apartments.
Opportunity home will use a $117,256 Emergency Safety and Security grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to bolster security at the agency-operated Westway, Cheryl West and Mission Park apartments.
Security at Opportunity Home properties has long been a concern among residents, who last year told the Current their demands for such improvements were largely ignored under former CEO Ed Hinojosa Jr., who was fired last month after three years on the job.
The funding also comes as Opportunity Home interim CEO and president Michael Reyes attempts to overhaul the housing authority. The organization currently faces a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall.
Opportunity Home officials said the agency is applying the HUD grant to the Westway, Cheryl West and Mission Park apartments due to tenant concerns about property crime.
"Through the security tools for which HUD is allocating funding, we aim to improve security in those areas," Opportunity Home spokesperson Jose Garza said in an email to the Current. "These important devices include security cameras, access control and intrusion alarm systems."
Only properties that didn't receive 2023 grant money were eligible for the HUD upgrades, Garza added.
Hinojosa's dismissal came after Opportunity Home sent out eviction notices to 10% of its tenants, sparking a public outcry.
Opportunity Home insiders told the San Antonio Report the eviction notices were an attempt to collect unpaid rent. The rent would then be used to help cover the housing authority's projected $18 million budget shortfall this fiscal year, they added.
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