National housing organization chooses Carl S. Richie Jr. for Commissioner’s Service Award
AUSTIN – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Gardere Wynne Sewell partner Carl S. Richie Jr. was honored with the Commissioner’s Service Award from the Southwest chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) June 21 in Santa Fe.
Richie, who grew up in a housing development in Wichita Falls and who once served as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Texas Governor’s Office, has been a longtime advocate of affordable housing and has founded educational programs to help public housing residents break the poverty cycle.
Richie helped turned the once low-performing Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) into a national model for housing authorities after being named HACA commissioner in 1997. He served as president of the non-profit Southwest Housing Compliance Corporation (SHCC), which earmarks funds for educational programs that reach out to HACA residents and other public housing residents in Texas and surrounding states as soon as they enter the school system. SHCC makes scholarships available to graduating students and to those returning to finish their degree.
Richie is involved with NAHRO at the state, regional and national level. He was named Commissioner of the Year in 2003, serves on the both the national and regional Commissioner’s Committee and is legislative consultant for the Texas NAHRO chapter.
“It is always gratifying to see our attorneys nationally recognized for their contributions to the communities in which we live and work,” Gardere Managing Partner Steve Good said. “For Carl to be recognized for helping others is especially rewarding.”
As an attorney, Richie represents clients before the Texas Legislature on a broad array of issues in addition to representing clients on education, electric utility regulation, housing, financial services and occupational licensing and tax issues before state and federal administrative agencies.
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, an AmLaw 200 firm, was founded in 1909 and is one of the Southwest’s largest full-service law firms. With offices in Dallas, Austin, Houston and Mexico City, Gardere provides legal services to private and public companies and individuals in areas of litigation, corporate, tax, environmental, labor and employment, intellectual property, and financial services.
