AUSTIN, Texas — One of the few remaining public housing complexes in Austin just sold to a for-profit agency against tenants’ wishes to avoid a looming foreclosure that would have wiped out all affordability for the property.

A mission-based nonprofit was supposed to purchase Rosemont at Oak Valley, but they pulled out of the deal unexpectedly in February. This recent sale exposes systemic issues within the very government entities designed to protect and support low-income housing in the region.  

“We’re not just .002%, you know what I mean, we’re human,” said Lisa Rheams.

The single mother and her kids lived with mold in their apartment for years. They moved out of Rosemont in February 2022.

“I just decided that their health was more important,” she said.

Rheams is still fighting to protect tenant rights as a renter and now a board member of the Strategic Housing Finance Corporation, which owns Rosemont.

“We’re only asking for affordable living,” she said. “I think that’s a right for every human being walking.” 

SHFC is an entity of the housing authority of Travis County. The agency receives public money to preserve the little remaining affordable housing and fund future low-income properties. 

Since SHFC bought Rosemont in 2019, they have racked up millions of dollars in structural damages and financial debt from neglecting to maintain and repair the complex. In January, SHFC President Patrick Howard received a foreclosure notice, which he didn’t disclose until April.

“When they pulled up the foreclosure, it was kinda like a slap in the face,” Rheams said.

To avoid foreclosure, tenants say they were forced into a deal with Hayden Glade, an owner they never wanted and don’t trust. Housing advocate Gabby Garcia. with BASTA, the group representing Rosemont residents, says it’s the lesser of evils. 

“It’s not the outcome they wanted, but they will continue fighting until the end,” Garcia said.

Hayden Glade CEO Elliot White says the board’s decision was surprising.

“I think the tenants, if I were in their shoes, they have every right to be very skeptical of anything,” he said.

He says they agreed to most tenant demands, but it was in a “post-closing agreement,” and residents weren’t confident it was a guarantee.

“There’s a tremendous amount of work that has to get done and I am in no way minimizing that, but I think we have a really good understanding of what needs to get done and we have a plan on that moving forward,” White said.

SHFC board members weren’t excited about the deal either, or the way Howard has handled Rosemont, from purchase to sale. 

“We face so many structural hurdles,” said Julio Gonzalez Altamirano.

Newly appointed members like him say they plan to clean up the mess past leadership left behind. 

“I was not part of the board when we got into the ditch, but I do feel I can be held accountable for getting us out of the ditch,” Gonzalez Altamirano said.

This time around, renters tell Spectrum News they aren’t going to sit around and hope it will be different. 

“We’re all here to stand and face it,” Rheams said.

There is one thing this traumatic experience has taught them: how to hold the people in charge accountable.