Thursday, September 16, 2010

Who is Guy Rankin, IV?

Guy R. Rankin, IV is the Chief Executive Officer for the Harris County Housing Authority (HCHA), a governmental agency which serves more than 1.7 million people and a service area of approximately 1100 square miles.  With over 20 years of housing and community development experience, Mr. Rankin has garnered a reputation for excellence through accomplished change and innovation.  Under his visionary leadership, HCHA has grown from a troubled agency to one of the best housing authorities in the country as recognized by the U. S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.

Rankin’s strong analytical skills, combined with his extensive financial and programmatic knowledge of housing and community development gives HCHA the edge in managing multiple programs in a dynamic and complex environment.   As CEO, Mr. Rankin has complete managerial oversight of all Authority programs including the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program, Senior Housing Program, Assisted Housing Program, Single Room Occupancy Program and the Homeownership Program. 

Rankin is considered to be the best affordable housing leader in America when it comes to managing a Housing Authority.  From 2005- 08, Rankin developed over 1,000 new affordable housing units for the citizens of Harris County, worth over 100 million dollars.   This strong performance has not gone unnoticed, but has earned HCHA national recognition.  Under Rankin’s leadership, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave HCHA its highest ranking for six consecutive years, rating the Agency as the highest performing housing authority in its region.
 
As one of America’s most talented and innovative leaders, Mr. Rankin has not only been able to deliver the highest quality housing to people in need, he has also helped clients to achieve self sufficiency and independence.  In 2005, following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Rankin housed over 25,000 people through the Houston Astrodome in 18 days by creating America’s first long-term disaster housing assistance program.  His leadership and program design led to more than 36,000 families being serviced in the Houston area.  In 2007, Rankin was appointed by HUD to manage the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP) in Houston, TX, New Orleans, LA and in various other cities located in 41 states throughout the United States.  Because of Rankin’s extraordinary leadership, the DHAP Program serves as a national model to help families end their long-term reliance on government assistance after an emergency or disaster strikes.  

Rankin has a reputation for bringing about change in the perception of pubic sector operations by applying a private sector business model which recognizes excellence in service and sacrifice.   Key elements to his success include developing a strong team, addressing community needs first, and implementing intense audit and financial controls

Before joining the Harris County Housing Authority, Rankin was the Chief Operating Officer for the Harris County Community Development Department. Rankin also served as the Planning Director for the City of LaPorte, Texas.






National and Best Practice Experience

Successfully Changed a Troubled Housing Authority into One of America’s Best

As CEO of the Harris County Housing Authority, Guy Rankin successfully changed a troubled housing Authority into one of America’s Best.  The HCHA administers its housing programs in accordance with HUD regulations while carrying out its mission to “promote innovative housing communities and assist families to achieve self sufficiency.”  For six consecutive years, the HCHA has received national recognition from HUD as the highest performing housing authority in its region.

Created and Implemented America’s first Mass Housing Disaster Plan (Houston Astrodome -2005 following Hurricane Katrina).

When the United States Housing & Urban Development (HUD) entered into an inter-agency agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to create the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP), it had in mind an agency with the credibility and the sense of excellence needed to be the benchmark for the program’s administration.  Guy Rankin and the Harris County Housing Authority (HCHA), proving capable of performing at the highest level, was asked to design a model of how the DHAP program should be run.  Indicated below are some of HCHA’s performance highlights accomplished under the leadership of Guy Rankin.
·         HCHA currently administers the DHAP for Harris County, Greater New Orleans and on a national scale throughout 41 states. 
·         HCHA administers monthly rental assistance payments to property owners on behalf of DHAP families.  To date, HCHA has paid over $153 million in payments for the last 12 months.
·         HCHA has mastered how to assist families on the road to self sufficiency, proving them capable of managing a massive national program and passing various audits with zero findings for the past six years.
·         HCHA has invested in its greatest resource by providing training and certifications to over 400 staff members and 100 new property inspectors.
·         HCHA designed three (3) state of the art DHAP Centers (each built within 30-days) to conduct day to day DHAP operations.  DHAP Harris County 24,000 sq. ft., DHAP Greater New Orleans 33,000 sq. ft., and DHAP USA 3,000 sq. ft.
·         HCHA demonstrates its ability to successfully collaborate with community leaders and business partners to place families in intermediate housing and build centers that accommodate displaced families with dignity and respect;.
·         HCHA is the “go to” agency when a disaster strikes leaving families displaced and in need of intermediate rental subsidy assistance.  Milan Ozdinec, Deputy Assistant secretary for Public Housing and Voucher Programs, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development says, ‘The Harris County Housing Authority has been there from the start to support families displaced by the hurricanes; it has done a remarkable job running the DHAP program…”  HUD cites Guy Rankin’s leadership and the Harris County Housing Authority’s previous DHAP success as the reason it tapped the agency for an expanded role.  

1 comment:

  1. A towering bronze statue of a chiseled, bare-chested angel holding a fallen soldier stands in a courtyard at Sierra Meadows, an affordable housing complex built by the Harris County Housing Authority.

    The one-ton monument, custom designed from a sketch by authority CEO Guy Rankin IV, cost $92,000, plus shipping from New York. Intended as a centerpiece for the patriotic-themed development, the sculpture instead is becoming a symbol of what critics say is a pattern of imprudent spending by the authority.

    A Houston Chronicle review of authority records identified hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable spending in recent years, including $183,400 on statues and monuments, $208,000 on the grand openings of three housing developments, $109,000 in donations to nonprofits, $33,500 for a gym in the authority's Reliant Park-area offices and more than $14,500 for trophies.

    County officials say Rankin and the authority's board of commissioners, already under fire for paying large salaries and bonuses and spending $8.4 million on a defunct waterfront development, have lost sight of their mission to house the poor.

    "The purpose of this entity is to assist those who need it," Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle said. "If you're the 75-year-old woman who's needing assistance and you're told you don't get to move into housing because the money that would've gone to help you move into housing got spent on a statue, how does that impact her life? That's hard to justify."

    County Judge Ed Emmett called the spending "appalling" and "one of the greater abuses of appointed office that I've seen."

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