HACA President and CEO Receives NAHRO’s Most Prestigious Award
(Washington, D.C. – October 22, 2018) – The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) recently awarded Michael Gerber, President and CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA), with NAHRO’s highest honor: the prestigious M. Justin Herman Memorial Award. The award will be presented on October 25 at the NAHRO National Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta, Ga.
Under Gerber’s leadership, HACA manages 19 housing developments and 5,000 Housing Choice Voucher units, and has provided affordable housing to more than 18,000 people. HACA’s subsidiary, the Austin Affordable Housing Corporation, has added more than 2,000 high-quality affordable rental units to the Austin area. Gerber also initiated the creation of Blue Print, a nonprofit consulting arm of HACA, which helps other housing agencies meet their finance and inspections challenges and improve their overall operations.
During his tenure at HACA, Gerber has also prioritized quality-of-life improvements at all of the housing authority’s properties and built and strengthened partnerships in education, health and job skills training, including a nationally acclaimed digital literacy program with stakeholders such as Google, the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundation. Gerber also worked with Communities in Schools (CIS) to ensure that HACA resident children and youth received case management and high-quality after-school programming, and funded a specialized college readiness program to ensure they successfully transition from high school to college, post-secondary training, or the armed services.
“Mr. Gerber’s commitment to increasing Austin’s affordable housing stock and building partnerships that provide more opportunities for HACA’s residents is inspiring,” said NAHRO CEO Adrianne Todman. “His contributions will be felt for generations to come.”
Gerber previously served as the Executive Director for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), Texas’ state agency that has provided over 3 million low-income Texans with critical necessities and services. He also spearheaded TDHCA’s efforts to build or rehabilitate more than 45,000 units of affordable rental housing.
About the M. Justin Herman Memorial Award
The M. Justin Herman Memorial Award is given annually to a NAHRO member who has made outstanding contributions to their community’s quality of life through service in the field of housing or community development. Established in 1975, the award recognizes the standard of excellence that M. Justin Herman brought to the San Francisco Housing Authority and housing and community development industry.
About NAHRO
NAHRO, established in 1933, is a membership organization of nearly 20,000 housing and community development agencies and professionals throughout the United States whose mission is to create affordable housing and safe, viable communities that enhance the quality of life for all Americans, especially those of low- and moderate-income. NAHRO’s membership administers more than 3 million housing units for 7.6 million people.