Housing Projects Remodeling Effort Brings Out Questions

By John Jackson

With construction now complete on Parkway Homes, the Corpus Christi Housing Authority is still continuing renovations on two of the city's 10 other housing projects, Clairelaine Gardens and Treyway Terrace. The changes, CCHA officials say, will make them more attractive and more accessible places to live. Until things stabilize, residents will be reassigned to different apartments. Eventually however, CCHA officials say they will likely be able to come back to the same apartments they lived in before--with their conditions improved. Not everyone believes that renovations are necessary though, and some residents are worried about going to one project in particular, D.N. Leathers.

“This move is unnecessary,” said Ron Kolb, a longtime resident of Clairelaine Gardens, “it is a burden to the disabled and elderly, and it’s a waste of millions of taxpayer dollars"

"Not only that," he said, "they just had a remodeling in 2001."

Others shared Kolb's sentiments.

"The housing here at Clairelaine is okay," said a middle aged resident, who did not wish to be named, "It's not the ritz, but it's good."

"Clairelaine was built in the 1940s," he said, "so it is more comfortable than [housing projects built] today."

"Water used to come down [inside of the] walls during heavy rains," he continued, "but that got fixed in the last two years."

Since Clairelaine Gardens was initially a private apartment complex, before it was bought out by the CCHA in 1963, dwellings are generally larger and more spacious than most other housing projects in Corpus Christi.

Outgoing Housing Authority Chairman, William D. Bonilla, emphasized nonetheless that construction must go on, and that residents concerns about Leathers were unfounded.


“Leathers has been modernized,” Bonilla said emphatically, “and I’ll bet you ten to one that anyone going there will realize that.”


The quality of the buildings at Leathers appeared slightly better than the neighboring Winnebago St. area. (known to many Corpus Christi residents as "The Cut") Within walking distance of Solomon Coles High School, the housing project was also near a baseball field, basketball court, and a swimming pool.

The battleship gray apartments however had cracks along their baseboards.
Many of the air vents were also either partially or completely exposed. A rodent could easily climb into the vents from the outside, and either nest there, creating an infestation, or die, creating a foul odor throughout the building.
In addition to that, the sidewalks were badly cracked, and they appeared too narrow for wheelchair usage.

The washing machines in the laundry room were rusted on top, and the dryer had graffiti on it.


Since $222,200 was allocated to Leathers in the 2006 Housing Authority budget for purposes of painting and decorative trim, there has been no listing on the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website for any further funding.

The modernization effort to which Bonilla referred did not seem not evident. One senior citizen who was moved from Clairelaine to Leathers several months ago, and wished to remain anonymous, agreed

“It’s dirty,” he said, “there’s too many thefts, and too many dogs.”“I’m afraid for my health,” he said, “ and I wish at night the could put in more security.”“At 2 and 3 in the morning,” he said, “people knock on my door.”“I think they’re on drugs,” he added.

Rosario Sanchez, another senior citizen, was concerned about a rise in troubled youth when she lived at Clairelaine, but did not want to go to Leathers either.

“They said you have to go wherever they send you,” Sanchez said, “Then they told me,” she said, “if I don’t go where they send me, they’ll kick me out of the HUD program, and not let me back in.” After saving a little money, and getting help from her children, she eventually moved to private apartments. Sanchez is trying to get back in to government housing though, and believes that it may be two years before she is considered.

Bonilla said that the Housing Authority did the best it could to accommodate residents as they were reassigned.
“If they’re gonna remodel a particular building,” he said, “they give them an option, sometimes there is no option".

Contrary to what he said earlier, "There is in fact, no modernization effort at Leathers," Mr. Bonilla later conceded, "in fact, we've been informed that there is standing water underneath the ground at Leathers, so we are considering closing it altogether."

"I think in the near future," said CCHA CEO, Richard Franco, "D.N. Leathers should be closed, and replaced with energy efficient homes."

"So many things are up in the air [about Leathers]," said CCHA Sr. Vice President, Lorenzo Buitron, "Some people [who live there]also say their kids have asthma because they are so close to the refineries."