Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 110 | Part One: Tyrone Roderick Williams, CEO, Fresno Housing

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Episode 110 | Part One: Tyrone Roderick Williams, CEO, Fresno Housing · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

0:05
Speaker 1: This is change Makers with Katie Gore finding the right
0:09
Speaker 1: solutions for the affordable housing community.
0:13
Speaker 2: This week's change maker is Tyrone Roderick Williams, the chief
0:16
Speaker 2: executive officer of Presno Housing, a pivotal organization dedicated to
0:21
Speaker 2: creating and sustaining vibrant communities that serve nearly fifty thousand
0:26
Speaker 2: residents across Tresno County. With over twenty five years of
0:31
Speaker 2: experience in leading large scale revitalization initiatives, Tyrone has become
0:35
Speaker 2: a catalyst for innovation in affordable housing and community development. Tyrone,
0:40
Speaker 2: Welcome to the podcast.
0:42
Speaker 3: Oh, it's great to be here talking with you, KD.
0:46
Speaker 2: It is such an amazing opportunity for us to come together.
0:49
Speaker 2: We just talked it narrow a couple weeks ago, and
0:53
Speaker 2: I'm thrilled to give this platform a chance for us
0:56
Speaker 2: and our listeners to get to know you more and
0:59
Speaker 2: to hear what's happening in Fresno. So welcome, welcome, well.
1:03
Speaker 3: Thank you. I am always honored to have the opportunity
1:07
Speaker 3: to share about the incredible things that are happening here
1:11
Speaker 3: in Fresno, and I'm happy to share the journey that
1:14
Speaker 3: brought me here.
1:15
Speaker 2: Let's start off by talking about that journey, because your
1:18
Speaker 2: career is quite interesting. It spans from architecture to real
1:22
Speaker 2: estate to urban planning. Let's just say, for example, if
1:27
Speaker 2: you were coming into the industry and somebody wanted to
1:30
Speaker 2: know how did you get here and how did you
1:32
Speaker 2: do that? What would you tell them?
1:35
Speaker 3: I would tell them I took the scenic route, That's
1:38
Speaker 3: for sure. I'd never underestimated where I would be or
1:45
Speaker 3: the influence that I would have. I have been blessed
1:49
Speaker 3: with clarity of perspective for my career since I got
1:57
Speaker 3: to college. At first, of all, it started off with
2:00
Speaker 3: wanting to be an architect, so I got a scholarship
2:03
Speaker 3: to Prairie View A and M University. I am a
2:06
Speaker 3: proud graduate of a historically black college. And while there,
2:10
Speaker 3: I realized that not only did I want to become
2:14
Speaker 3: an architect and understand how to design buildings, I wanted
2:18
Speaker 3: to understand how to design construct lease finance. And someone said,
2:24
Speaker 3: that's real estate development. And even though I had never
2:27
Speaker 3: met anybody, I've never even met an architect by the
2:31
Speaker 3: time I got to Purview, but I definitely had not
2:35
Speaker 3: met anyone involved in real estate development. But through a
2:38
Speaker 3: series of events. I had an instructor at Purview who
2:44
Speaker 3: was a graduate of MIT, and he shared with me,
2:47
Speaker 3: if you're really serious about becoming a real estate developer,
2:51
Speaker 3: there's one school in the country that can really put
2:54
Speaker 3: you on the right path, and I think you should apply.
2:57
Speaker 3: Through a long story, short I apply. I got a
3:01
Speaker 3: full scholarship to study city planning and real estate development
3:06
Speaker 3: and MIT, and that has kind of polted me to
3:11
Speaker 3: places I could have never dreamed. And so after that,
3:15
Speaker 3: I decided, first I wanted to understand the planning issues,
3:19
Speaker 3: and so I worked at a planning firm in their
3:22
Speaker 3: planning department, working with real estate developers and architects to
3:26
Speaker 3: create vision. And then moved into the community development area
3:31
Speaker 3: in Roxbury, Massachusetts, working with a small nonprofit organization that
3:38
Speaker 3: was developing affordable housing. That's where the whole world opened
3:45
Speaker 3: up about different aspects of affordable housing, and since then
3:50
Speaker 3: I have held many positions. After I leaving Boston, I
3:54
Speaker 3: headed up the Local Initiative Support Corporation better known as LIST.
3:59
Speaker 3: I was the first first director of the LIST in Houston,
4:03
Speaker 3: and then moved on into commercial real estate development, developing
4:08
Speaker 3: multifamily projects, commercial and industrial and then moved on to
4:15
Speaker 3: head up an affordable home building company in Houston, where
4:20
Speaker 3: I put all of those skills to work for design,
4:23
Speaker 3: to marketing, to finance, to construction to It was an
4:28
Speaker 3: incredible time. And then I moved to Atlanta and worked
4:33
Speaker 3: in Atlanta on a large redevelopment project that was a
4:38
Speaker 3: partnership between Integral Development headed by Egbert Parry and the
4:43
Speaker 3: Atlanta Housing Authority, and that really broadened my horizon and context.
4:47
Speaker 3: And that was the first interaction with housing authority and
4:53
Speaker 3: understanding the impact and the role that a housing authority
4:56
Speaker 3: can play. But then there were some other stops along away.
5:00
Speaker 3: But then I got a call out from an executive
5:05
Speaker 3: search firm that says, Tyron, there's an opportunity to oversee
5:09
Speaker 3: all of the funding that comes to the city and
5:11
Speaker 3: the county for affordable housing and it's in Sacramento. And
5:17
Speaker 3: so through a series of events, I had the opportunity
5:21
Speaker 3: to move to from Atlanta to Sacramento and was there
5:26
Speaker 3: for seven and a half years with the Sacramento Housing
5:29
Speaker 3: and Redevelopment Agency. An incredible opportunity to serve under the
5:35
Speaker 3: leadership of Michelle Doja, who's one of this country's leading
5:39
Speaker 3: heads of affordable housing and there was a joy and
5:43
Speaker 3: then the opportunity headed opened up to move from northern
5:48
Speaker 3: California down to the Central Valley at in Fresno, and
5:53
Speaker 3: that's where I've served for almost three years now, and
5:56
Speaker 3: it has been an incredibly positive experience and impact experience,
6:02
Speaker 3: and all of the experiences and jobs, so to speak,
6:06
Speaker 3: that I've had over my past career all colliding and
6:11
Speaker 3: in one place and in one space and time, and
6:16
Speaker 3: I am here, and I am the happiest, most fulfilled
6:20
Speaker 3: CEO in all of California Central Valley.
6:25
Speaker 2: I love it. The stars have really aligned. And shout
6:29
Speaker 2: out to Michelle Does you're also a prior podcast guest
6:32
Speaker 2: of ours talk about a phenomenal leader.
6:36
Speaker 3: Oh. Absolutely, having the opportunity to work side by side
6:41
Speaker 3: with her and in many ways watching her mentoring me
6:46
Speaker 3: has really prepared me to be sick so I can
6:49
Speaker 3: go anywhere in the world at be successful at any
6:54
Speaker 3: task or opportunity and responsibility because of the time that
6:59
Speaker 3: I spent to her leadership.
7:01
Speaker 2: Those revitalization efforts in Atlanta and Sacramento. What would you
7:06
Speaker 2: say is something that you've been able to bring now
7:09
Speaker 2: to Fresno. From both of those experiences.
7:13
Speaker 3: Well, there are two experiences. One because I oversaw when
7:17
Speaker 3: I was in Atlanta the large at that time, what
7:20
Speaker 3: was the largest public housing redevelopment effort, a development called
7:24
Speaker 3: the Villages at Carver, which look at redeveloping one hundred
7:29
Speaker 3: and five acre public housing development site, but looking at
7:34
Speaker 3: not only redeveloping the units, but enhancing was there. So
7:39
Speaker 3: it was not only just rebuilding multi family units, but
7:43
Speaker 3: senior development master planning for single family home ownership opportunities,
7:50
Speaker 3: but partnering with the school district to have an elementary school,
7:55
Speaker 3: then a high school, then working with YMCA Boys and
8:00
Speaker 3: Girls Club and bringing resources. So I learned all of
8:03
Speaker 3: that in Atlanta and it really shaped my understanding and
8:09
Speaker 3: perspective of what an incredible role the head of a
8:14
Speaker 3: housing authority can play. It's not just handed out Section
8:18
Speaker 3: eight vouchers or just managing public housing. We could be
8:22
Speaker 3: a real catalyst for long term community and economic change.
8:26
Speaker 3: And so that's one of the things that I really
8:31
Speaker 3: gleaned from my time at Interval and then when I
8:34
Speaker 3: arrived in Sacramento. Prior to my arrival, Sacramento had was
8:39
Speaker 3: one of the few public housing agencies in the country
8:43
Speaker 3: that had two hard choice neighborhood initiative planning grants, and
8:49
Speaker 3: so we were looking at two separate developments and looking
8:54
Speaker 3: at planning for its future revitalization. And one of those
8:59
Speaker 3: planning grants emerged into an implementation brand. And the difference
9:05
Speaker 3: is the planning gran gives you the money to plan
9:07
Speaker 3: and to create the vision along with the neighborhood residents
9:11
Speaker 3: and the residents of the housing authority. But then there's
9:14
Speaker 3: a time to take that plan and make it become reality.
9:18
Speaker 3: And that's part of what I enjoy about the architectural
9:23
Speaker 3: part of me. The architect has the ability to see
9:26
Speaker 3: the unseen at the cast the vision and create the
9:29
Speaker 3: vision long before it becomes a reality. And I was
9:34
Speaker 3: a part of creating the master plan and overseeing a
9:39
Speaker 3: large segment of the redevelopment of Marisol Village, which is
9:46
Speaker 3: the name of the development that emerged out of that
9:50
Speaker 3: planning process. And I could use all of the creativity
9:54
Speaker 3: of the architects side of me. I understand the resident
9:59
Speaker 3: engagements and the need for creativity and doing something that
10:03
Speaker 3: hasn't been done before, setting a new vision, setting a
10:07
Speaker 3: new standard, and all of those things I was able
10:11
Speaker 3: to put into play during my time in Sacramento, and
10:17
Speaker 3: now I'm bringing all of that here to Fresno. And
10:21
Speaker 3: we've got some large place based developments that are on
10:26
Speaker 3: the planning side and implementation side as well.
10:32
Speaker 2: Before we move in and talk about the details of Fresno,
10:35
Speaker 2: I want to ask you, because with your architect and
10:38
Speaker 2: your creative brain here, one of my pet peeves is
10:41
Speaker 2: driving by affordable housing and being able to tell it's
10:44
Speaker 2: affordable housing from the outside. What would you tell people
10:49
Speaker 2: who don't have the multi millions to be able to
10:52
Speaker 2: redevelop their properties that you clearly are driving by and
10:57
Speaker 2: can tell it's affordable housing where they start, And what
11:00
Speaker 2: would you tell them from an architecture or just an
11:03
Speaker 2: investment perspective.
11:06
Speaker 3: Curb appeel matters. It matters that every income range. So
11:12
Speaker 3: if you don't have the millions to tear it down
11:15
Speaker 3: and rebuild better, the first thing is to take pride
11:20
Speaker 3: and what is there already you The lawns should be vaticured,
11:25
Speaker 3: the hedges should be first of all, there should be
11:28
Speaker 3: hedges and flowers, and the hedges should be trimmed that
11:32
Speaker 3: the flowers should be well taken care of. The building
11:36
Speaker 3: should be painted and parrel washed, and the maintenance team
11:41
Speaker 3: at those properties should have take extra tear to ensure
11:45
Speaker 3: that things are neat, and that balconies are clear, and
11:51
Speaker 3: front entrances are neat, and there's not trash and debris
11:57
Speaker 3: strolled across the properties. Those things don't require a choice
12:02
Speaker 3: neighborhood initiative, but those things do require a choice to
12:07
Speaker 3: take pride in what you have and instill pride and
12:11
Speaker 3: the residents who live there that despite their income and
12:15
Speaker 3: their economic situations, that they can have pride in where
12:19
Speaker 3: they live, no matter what part of town they live in.
12:25
Speaker 2: Thank you for schooling our industry on that, because there
12:29
Speaker 2: are sometimes when people just run around before those react
12:32
Speaker 2: inspections and try to spruce it up. And it should
12:36
Speaker 2: be in the daily curb appeal and in the small details,
12:41
Speaker 2: shouldn't it.
12:42
Speaker 3: Yes, Here at firsdo I've instituted a policy of presentation
12:48
Speaker 3: ready that every one of our developments, no matter whether
12:52
Speaker 3: they are newer developments and we have some or our
12:56
Speaker 3: older developments, every project should be presentation ready. And what
13:01
Speaker 3: I mean by that is anybody should be able to
13:04
Speaker 3: drive by at any time without me having to call
13:08
Speaker 3: the property management company and you know, sound the alarm,
13:13
Speaker 3: so to speak. Hey, you know, go out there and
13:16
Speaker 3: clean it up. Somebody's coming tomorrow morning. No, that's not
13:19
Speaker 3: we don all have That's not my vision. That's not
13:22
Speaker 3: the way I perceive it should be ready, no matter
13:25
Speaker 3: who shows up or when they show because our residents
13:29
Speaker 3: deserve to have the places that they live in presentation
13:34
Speaker 3: ready at all times.
13:37
Speaker 2: I am clapping and shaking my head because I am
13:41
Speaker 2: absolutely thrilled that you have mentioned that presentation ready. Let's
13:45
Speaker 2: let's challenge all of our colleagues here to have that mantra.
13:50
Speaker 2: Let's talk about Fresno. What is going on in the
13:53
Speaker 2: housing market. And you know, we hear a lot about
13:56
Speaker 2: the California market, but specifically what's happening there. What's the
14:01
Speaker 2: market like, what are some of the dynamics as far
14:04
Speaker 2: as the supply and demand of affordable housing.
14:08
Speaker 3: Well, just like so many other places, Fresno is in
14:12
Speaker 3: the middle of a housing crisis, and the elements that
14:17
Speaker 3: have contributed to our crisis is really kind of the
14:22
Speaker 3: perfect storm colliding into the Central Valley. It really started
14:27
Speaker 3: with the Great Recession, when all new construction came to
14:32
Speaker 3: a halt of every kind. Single family home developments came
14:37
Speaker 3: to a multifamily home development, so all housing development in
14:42
Speaker 3: Fresno came to an absolute halt. Around two thousand and
14:46
Speaker 3: eight two thousand and nine, Fresno had the reputation of
14:51
Speaker 3: being one of the most because it's the fifth largest
14:54
Speaker 3: city in Fresno, one of the most affordable. It's in
14:58
Speaker 3: the Central Valley California. It's surrounded by an agricultural economy,
15:06
Speaker 3: so probably almost everybody listening to your podcast has some
15:10
Speaker 3: food that's originated in some way from California Central Valley,
15:15
Speaker 3: and so the wages are lower, but also the rents
15:20
Speaker 3: and the home prices were lower. And when COVID hit,
15:26
Speaker 3: people decided that moving out of the Bay Area or
15:31
Speaker 3: southern California, the Los Angeles San Diego area and finding
15:36
Speaker 3: homes that they could afford at prices that they could afford.
15:42
Speaker 3: We had a mass migration from the Bay Area and
15:47
Speaker 3: Southern California enter Fresno. At it g reaped havoc on
15:53
Speaker 3: our housing availability at our housing market. So in the
15:58
Speaker 3: last four four to five years, easily housing values have
16:03
Speaker 3: doubled and the rental rates have increased in some areas
16:08
Speaker 3: by sixty percent. People who were never concerned about housing
16:16
Speaker 3: security are now catapulted into an environment where they're using
16:24
Speaker 3: more than, in many cases, fifty percent of their income
16:29
Speaker 3: on paying rent. The escalation of the single family market
16:35
Speaker 3: without there being an equal escalation of wages have locked
16:40
Speaker 3: and blocked out a whole new generation of potential home
16:46
Speaker 3: buyers who could not afford those escalated prices. But if
16:53
Speaker 3: you were from southern California or the Bay Area, oh,
16:57
Speaker 3: you hit the jackpot where you take the friends and
17:00
Speaker 3: found out what you could get for the money that
17:04
Speaker 3: you had to spend. Oh. We have a lot of
17:07
Speaker 3: people from Southern California in the area who are elated
17:12
Speaker 3: to have moved to Fresno. But people who have been
17:16
Speaker 3: here all their lives are now struggling in ways that
17:19
Speaker 3: they never anticipated struggling before. And every day we at
17:24
Speaker 3: the housing authority here are looking at what we can
17:28
Speaker 3: do to create more housing and more affordable housing options
17:34
Speaker 3: and opportunities for our current resident.
17:38
Speaker 2: Do you think one of the most effective ways to
17:41
Speaker 2: combat some of this gap is just focusing on supply,
17:46
Speaker 2: whether it's focused for seniors or workforce housing, but is
17:51
Speaker 2: that the main way that you can tackle that is
17:53
Speaker 2: to just build more or are you seeing other types
17:58
Speaker 2: of tools that can happen the combat some of that?
18:02
Speaker 3: Well, I think and first of all, we believe me.
18:05
Speaker 3: We have explored lists of say many, many, many options.
18:11
Speaker 3: So yes, there is a need to build more. That's
18:15
Speaker 3: one component of addressing the crisis. The other side, and
18:19
Speaker 3: there's been a whole lot of discussion but not a
18:21
Speaker 3: lot of movement on it is looking at capping a
18:27
Speaker 3: rental rate escalations what landlords can charge on an ongoing
18:33
Speaker 3: or an annual basis, at how fast rental rates can increase.
18:37
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of discussion about it, but there's
18:40
Speaker 3: not been any legislation that has been passed that would
18:47
Speaker 3: limit the rent escalations. And so our city and our
18:53
Speaker 3: mayor and our city council have been very housing proactive
18:59
Speaker 3: from a housing prospective. They are very supportive of using
19:06
Speaker 3: They allocated about forty million dollars for affordable housing, which
19:11
Speaker 3: is more that's been allocated in the history of our
19:14
Speaker 3: city for housing, and so they've been very pro housing.
19:20
Speaker 3: But we've had to they've revamped their approval processes for
19:27
Speaker 3: approving the time that it takes to get plans approved.
19:31
Speaker 3: We've looked at, you know, so accessory dwelling units as
19:36
Speaker 3: a potential option. We've under Governor Nuisance home key program.
19:43
Speaker 3: I think we are now in the hotel motel holiday
19:47
Speaker 3: in business, buying up hotels and motels and converting them
19:52
Speaker 3: into permanent affordable housing units. Uh. And so we've really
19:58
Speaker 3: approached it from a multi angled perspective. But there's such
20:04
Speaker 3: great need and so much limited resources to address the
20:10
Speaker 3: size of the demand and need. So we've got a
20:14
Speaker 3: long way to go. But there is a will, and
20:18
Speaker 3: there is collaboration in Fresna.
20:22
Speaker 2: And it does sound like it's going to take a
20:24
Speaker 2: little bit of all of those efforts, you know, to
20:27
Speaker 2: have a build friendly approach, whether that is for you know,
20:32
Speaker 2: fast tracking or streamlining or just these alternative types of models.
20:37
Speaker 2: So lots and lots of various mechanisms for delivery here.
20:42
Speaker 2: One question, how does the California Housing Finance Agency, what
20:46
Speaker 2: is their role in helping you and how how do
20:49
Speaker 2: those partnerships happen to kind of address some of this
20:54
Speaker 2: tension here in this gap as well?
20:56
Speaker 3: Well. The California Housing Finance Agency was created decades ago
21:02
Speaker 3: to facilitate funding for multifamily develop affordable multifamily development, and
21:09
Speaker 3: assisting Californias in purchasing their home particularly focused on first
21:16
Speaker 3: time home buyers. And several years ago Governor Nissen appointed
21:22
Speaker 3: me to the board of the California Housing Finance Agency,
21:26
Speaker 3: and I am really honored to sit on that board
21:32
Speaker 3: and create policies and programs that really do matter and
21:37
Speaker 3: really do move the needle as far as providing affordable
21:43
Speaker 3: housing opportunities through the downpayment and closing cost assistance programs
21:48
Speaker 3: that are provided, as well as supporting senior and multifamily
21:54
Speaker 3: housing affordable developments across the state by providing financing options
22:01
Speaker 3: that really make projects like that possible.
22:06
Speaker 2: We've been talking about the gap here. Give us some numbers,
22:10
Speaker 2: like you know, if you could build twenty thousand in
22:13
Speaker 2: the next five years, but yet you have one hundred
22:16
Speaker 2: thousand people needing, Like what what is the scale in
22:19
Speaker 2: the mismatch? Do you have a context for us to
22:22
Speaker 2: understand the tension here?
22:25
Speaker 3: Well, here and throughout the central value. We are, as
22:30
Speaker 3: I shared, in a housing deficit because there was very
22:33
Speaker 3: little developed after the Great Recession, and so we are
22:40
Speaker 3: about fifty thousand units short. Clearly on an annual basis,
22:47
Speaker 3: we're we're gearing up to bring about two thousand to
22:51
Speaker 3: three thousand units online. So it's we're making progress and
22:58
Speaker 3: supporting the work of the city and the City Council
23:00
Speaker 3: and the County Board of Supervisors. But as I share,
23:03
Speaker 3: the demand is so great and it for outpaces the resources.
23:09
Speaker 3: Even with a governor who is pro housing and has
23:14
Speaker 3: allocated more funding toward housing programs than probably any other
23:19
Speaker 3: governor in the history of the state of California, it's
23:23
Speaker 3: still quite challenging.
23:24
Speaker 2: And this tension doesn't sound like it's going away. I mean,
23:27
Speaker 2: this is not a blip on Fresnos radar, is it.
23:31
Speaker 2: It's here to stay. And it sounds like a long
23:34
Speaker 2: term battle that you guys are going to have to
23:36
Speaker 2: stay in. Is that correct?
23:38
Speaker 3: Well, we're in it for a long houle. This is
23:40
Speaker 3: a marathon, not a sprint, and so we understand that.
23:47
Speaker 3: But even though it is a marathon, we want to
23:49
Speaker 3: run it as fast as we can, and we're going
23:53
Speaker 3: to look at every resource and tool that we have
23:56
Speaker 3: available to deploy to help bring these options and opportunities
24:01
Speaker 3: online fast as fast as possible.
24:03
Speaker 2: We've only scratched the surface of the innovative technology solutions
24:07
Speaker 2: at Presno Housing Authority, which we'll explore in depth in
24:12
Speaker 2: part two of our conversation. Join us next time when
24:15
Speaker 2: Tyrone Roderick Williams returns to SHARE's vision for the future,
24:19
Speaker 2: one that goes beyond providing housing to create lasting, meaningful
24:23
Speaker 2: change in residence lives.
24:26
Speaker 3: Every resident will choose this to move forward with their
24:31
Speaker 3: academic pursuits. We want to have a hand in helping
24:35
Speaker 3: them financially, so we are moving in that direction. I
24:40
Speaker 3: can't say that at this fort every resident, but there
24:44
Speaker 3: will be a day and we're looking for opportunities to
24:47
Speaker 3: fund every resident, whether you want to go back and
24:50
Speaker 3: get your g GED or you all the way to
24:53
Speaker 3: your PhD. If you are a resident of Presno Public
24:58
Speaker 3: Housing or a housing choice about you, we want au
25:02
Speaker 3: in making those educational advanced.
25:06
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to change Makers with Katie Gore. To
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Speaker 1: find out more about Katie, go to quad L dot com.
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