CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — The Corpus Christi Housing Authority Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to void agreements for 13 apartment complexes that were at the center of a months-long KRIS 6 News investigation revealing potential violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The decision effectively unwinds the housing authority's controversial workforce housing initiative and came despite warnings from property owners that the move could trigger foreclosures and displace hundreds of families.
After returning from executive session, board president Cathy Mehne read a statement declaring that from July 31, 2024, to March 25, 2025, the board did not comply with the Open Meetings Act regarding memoranda of understanding and related agreements.
The board then voted unanimously to adopt a resolution declaring all transactions relating to the 13 properties "are void," requiring the authority to return all subject properties to the private companies that conveyed them and withdraw as a member from all related business entities or dissolve them, and directing the authority's CEO and general counsel to take appropriate steps to return all fees and rent the authority received from these private companies.
The properties, appraised at approximately $350 million, were acquired by the housing authority between July 2024 and March 2025 under former CEO Gary Allsup, who was terminated in September.
The statement, read by Mehne, detailed multiple violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
"Significant information indicates the Corpus Christi Authority did not comply with the Texas Open Meetings Act when the Corpus Christi Housing Authority took up the proposal to enter into several memoranda of understanding with thirteen private companies and when a representative of the Housing Authority signed contracts to make the Housing Authority a member of business entities and signed purchase agreements without public notice or a hearing or a board vote to purchase and then lease any of the thirteen housing developments," Mehne read.
The statement said meeting agendas "did not give the public notice" of the purpose of the memoranda of understanding, what specific property the authority was considering, where each project is located, the cost to the authority, or which entities the authority board was considering entering into.
The statement said that after the board voted to enter into memoranda of understanding, the housing authority's CEO signed agreements to make the authority a member of 13 different business entities without the creation or the authority's participation in each business entity being brought before the board in a properly noticed public meeting and without a vote of the board authorizing the housing authority to participate in creating or becoming a member of the 13 business entities.
Additionally, the statement said the CEO signed contracts purporting to make the housing authority the purchaser of each of the 13 properties without any vote of the board to purchase any of these properties and without prior notice to the public.
The CEO also signed lease contracts purporting to make the housing authority the lessor of each of the 13 properties without any vote of the board to lease any of these properties, the statement said.
"The current board was already looking into these irregularities when the Housing Authority was sued by Nueces County for alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act as to these actions," the statement said.
"I appreciate the comments of members of the community and tenants and in making this motion, I am mindful of the reported benefits of the arrangements under these inappropriately executed agreements, but we cannot responsibly ignore the prior board's failure to comply with the open meetings law or the former CEO's actions taken without board approval and the legally required public notice and scrutiny," Mehne added.
Today’s decision by the Corpus Christi Housing Authority purporting to “void” its Workforce Housing Opportunities contracts is a shocking and shameful reversal. The CCHA created the Workforce Housing Opportunities (W.H.O.) Program, recruited apartment owners to participate, approved the acquisition of 13 properties, and signed contracts that required those properties to provide reduced rents for residents struggling to live in the city. The decision is based on empty claims – currently pending in court -- that the organization did not properly notify the public of its plans. Anxious to brush this matter under the rug and avoid further scrutiny, the CCHA broke its promise to hundreds of working families who depend on the W.H.O. Program, removing a critical safety net and making it possible they will lose their homes. Today, CCHA has acted without regard for its contractual or legal obligations, or for the hard-working people the organization is duty-bound to assist.
Before the vote, property owners and property managers told the board that voiding the contracts would be "catastrophic."
Joe Bruggeman, a military veteran who owns six apartment complexes in Corpus Christi, said he paid $839,000 in upfront fees, set aside 566 units for workforce housing, and refinanced his properties based on the agreements.
"If the CCHA votes to void these legally binding contracts, there will be several extreme, severe results," Bruggeman said. "The lenders may foreclose on all 13 of the properties CCHA now owns...This will eliminate a program hundreds of local working families depend on to afford their rents, likely leaving them without homes. It will bankrupt my company and me personally."
Brad Swearer, CFO of GWR Management LLC, which owns four properties in the program, said his company spent millions in upfront fees and took on loans requiring the tax exemption and rent restrictions.
"A decision with the CCHA to void the contracts would be catastrophic," Swearer said. "A repeal of the tax exemption would cause an incurable default of the requirements of the loan. The properties would not be able to make debt service payments without the tax savings, and ultimately, may be foreclosed upon."
Property managers said the program is working. Melissa Garcia, property manager for Churchill Square Apartments, said 52 of 55 designated units are leased to qualifying residents paying up to $400 less per month.
"If this program is taken away from them, their rent almost certainly increases at the end of their lease, and it's highly probable that they will have to move," Garcia said.
A KRIS 6 News investigation found that meeting agendas for the property acquisitions provided only vague descriptions such as "Consider Resolution for MOU" with an apartment name. The agendas included no mention of tax breaks or land purchases, and proposed agreements were not made publicly available before board meetings.
The properties could have removed approximately $7.4 million annually from local tax rolls.
In May 2025, Mayor Paulette Guajardo appointed three new board members—former Mayor Joe McComb, former City Council Member Greg Smith, and West Oso ISD counselor Judith Gonzalez-Rodriguez—who joined existing commissioners in voting to pause millions in pending acquisitions.
In June 2025, the Corpus Christi City Council unanimously declared the deals "apparently illegal," citing alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act. In July, the Nueces County Appraisal District denied tax exemption requests for the properties. In September, Nueces County Commissioners authorized legal action against the housing authority, and days later, the board terminated Allsup, whose compensation package totaled nearly $800,000 annually.
In October, Nueces County filed a lawsuit seeking to void the workforce housing agreements and Allsup's employment contracts. Twenty-seven private companies intervened in November to defend the deals, calling them legitimate public-private partnerships.
Ben Martin, Research Director for Texas Housers, previously told 6 Investigates the program does not address the community's most pressing housing needs. The housing authority has more than 30,000 people on its Section 8 waiting list.
"Affordable rental housing need is by far the greatest among households making 50% of area median income and below, especially 30% and below. These are the populations that housing authorities were created to serve," Martin told KRIS 6 News.
