Our Values
Be a good neighbor in communities we serve
Identify highest and best use for sites that support community needs and initiatives, and utilize resources to create added value
Collaborate with partners on key initiatives to support equitable and transformative development
Provide proactive and transparent access to
data, activities, and operations
Demonstrate continuous improvement and define national best practices
Our Impact
We’re making a difference by helping create quality affordable homes in neighborhoods across Houston. The outcomes of our efforts include better quality of life for Houston’s historically underserved communities.
The challenge is, home prices and rents are going up faster than incomes in Houston, and Houstonians are spending more of their money on housing. Meanwhile, our city’s historically underserved communities want and deserve transformative, equitable community and economic development – better parks, libraries, grocery stores.
Working closely with partners like the City of Houston, Houston Community Land Trust, and private and non-profit developers, we’re helping residents transform their neighborhoods in line with community plans by:
- Creating more affordable homes — Including HLB-generated sales and construction activity, we’ve created over 500 (and counting) new affordable homes for income-limited Houstonians since 2004.
- Reactivating vacant, abandoned or damaged properties for productive use – over the past 15 years, we’ve put property worth more than $76 million back in play. These are frequently vacant, abandoned or damaged properties that can be bad for the neighborhood. By acquiring these properties and turning them to better use – good homes for Houston – we can contribute to better quality of life for Houstonians across our city.
- Helping pay for our schools and city and county services and helping keep tax bills low: By putting properties back on the tax rolls and increasing their value, we help generate revenue to support our public schools and city and county services. That reduces the burden on other taxpayers, and we also help reduce local government costs by vacant or abandoned lots that can be a drain on tax dollars by requiring clean-up and monitoring. In 2019 alone, former HLB properties generated some $1 million in revenue for better education and public services in Houston.
Board of Directors
Regular meetings of the board are held the second Thursday of each month and are open to the public. Governing documents, meeting agendas and minutes can be found on our resources page.
The mayor, or his designee, is an ex officio non-voting member of the board and may direct the Houston Land Bank’s priorities. In addition, the mayor has appointed four members to a non-voting advisory board: Nick Foran, Gwendolyn Tillotson-Bell, Elijah J. Williams and Kellen Zale. Members of the Board of Directors are listed below by appointing authority.
City of Houston Mayoral Appointees
City of Houston Council Appointees
HISD Appointees
Harris County Appointees
Advisory Board
David Collins, Vice Chair
Marilyn Muguerza
Danielle Keys Bess
Tonzaino “Zano” Bailey
Janae Ladet
Elaine Morales, Secretary
Elijah Williams
Gwendolyn Tillotson-Bell
Kellen Zale
Staff
Christa Stoneham
Chief Executive Officer | President
Charles Keys
Asset & Disposition Manager
Isai Mendez
Accounting Manager | Director of Finance
Melanie Young
Director of Operations
LaTosha Okoiron
Counsel | Compliance Manager
Lindsey Williams
Director of Community Development
Donesha Albrow
Program Manager
LeKendra Drayton
Administrative Assistant
History
The Houston Land Bank was originally created by the City of Houston in 1999 as the Land Assemblage and Redevelopment Authority. Through an interlocal agreement with Harris County and the Houston Independent School District, the organization acquired lots that either went unsold or were purchased at tax foreclosure auctions and sold them to builders for development of affordable homes through 2017.
Rising home prices and Hurricane Harvey increased the need for affordable housing options and the impact of development in underserved communities increase the need for community development; as a result the organization was renamed the Houston Land Bank in 2018 and its articles of incorporation and bylaws were revised to focus its mission on supporting comprehensive community development in line with the City’s Complete Communities Initiative.
See detailed timeline here
Organization History
