SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Housing Authority on Wednesday announced their name change and unveiled their new logo on Twitter.
The organization formerly known as SAHA has changed their name to "Opportunity Home San Antonio" accompanied by a yellow and blue logo.
In the past, SAHA has come under fire for having long waitlists. In 2021, the organization met with Texas Representative Elizabeth Campos to host a community wide resource fair.
At that event, it was said that 5,000 applicants would be chosen through a lottery system for the Housing Choice Voucher Program. Those who were selected were told to expect to wait up to two and a half years on the waitlist for the housing assistance eligibility.
The organization hopes to change that with the new look and mission.
“It is time to disrupt the existing affordable housing system,” said Ed Hinojosa, Jr., President and CEO of Opportunity Home San Antonio. “With one out of fifteen San Antonians on a waitlist for affordable housing, we are committed to structural changes including expanding income-based housing amid an incessant global pandemic, and economic challenges.”
The housing authority was also under fire following the 2021 winter storm. They were accused of leaving elderly and disabled residents without shelter during the storm.
"The City of San Antonio and Bexar County were warned of extreme temperatures and the potential for prolonged power outages causing potential risk of injury or death. The failure of SAHA and city leadership to plan, prepare and to quickly respond to the crisis caused needless suffering and potential for serious injury and death of some of our community's most vulnerable residents. We have yet to see the SAHA Board of Directors, CEO, the Mayor and City Manager of the City of San Antonio accept responsibility or to hold themselves accountable. After seeing the complete failures in leadership, we demand accountability," said Queta Rodriguez, retired Marine Captain in 2021.