Save Workforce Housing advocates for Corpus Christi workers to afford to live in Corpus Christi
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – Today, Save Workforce Housing, a coalition of affordable housing providers, developers, employers, and working families launches a public demand for Nueces County to drop a taxpayer-funded lawsuit that seeks to eliminate a critical affordable housing program.
Stagnating wages, combined with rising demand, rent prices and inflation, have made it difficult for local families and individuals to find affordable housing. Today, 35,000 applicants are on a waiting list for Corpus Christi housing vouchers, and local workers, including police officers, teachers, firefighters, and nurses, are being priced out of the city.
In the middle of this affordable housing crisis, and on the heels of the Commissioners Court increasing the property tax rate by 9.07% in September 2025, the County is now using taxpayer dollars to fund a lawsuit designed to end the city’s Workforce Housing Opportunities (W.H.O.) Program and eliminate 1,533 affordable housing units at apartment complexes throughout the city.
Ieasha McNeal, a single parent who works as a Utilization Management Specialist for an insurance company, began paying reduced rent under Corpus Christi’s W.H.O. Program earlier this year. “I was struggling to pay my rent, bills, food, and after-school care for my daughter. W.H.O. has been a lifeline for me. I no longer have to choose between these basic necessities,” she said.
Background on the W.H.O. Program:
- In 2024, the Corpus Christi Housing Authority (CCHA) acquired the land of 13 local apartment complexes and signed contracts requiring them to designate at least half of their apartments for working individuals and families, whose rent must not exceed 30% of their incomes.
- Only individuals and families earning 80% or less than the Average Median Family Income (AMFI) –– considered “low income” by HUD –– qualify for the program. (Less than $66,160 for a family of four.)
- Participating complexes designate 10% of their workforce housing for those earning 60% or less than the AMFI. (Less than $49,620 for a family of four.)
- The program is based on a proven model used in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin and Denton to provide housing options for working families struggling to find affordable rents.
- By acquiring the land and removing the complexes from the property tax rolls, CCHA made it possible for the complexes to offer homes in the city to members of the local workforce at stable, predicable rents in areas they would have previously been unable to afford.
Joe Bruggeman, a combat-wounded veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, who is now involved in the operation of five W.H.O. Program apartment complexes, said: “I am proud that half of our apartments are dedicated to lower-income renters who depend on this program to live in the city where they work. Using taxpayer money to break contracts and promises to these families is misguided and completely out of touch. It’s time for the County to do the right thing and drop its attack on affordable housing for working families.”
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