Karen Paup
Executive Director
Karen works with grassroots leaders to help residents realize their own visions for their communities. For more than 30 years, she has helped communities use housing as a tool for improving living conditions and for teaching leaders to be active participants in the civic affairs of their communities. Her work has resulted in neighborhood-controlled organizations converting outside commercial redevelopment plans into housing, neighborhood-operated housing for the homeless, self-help housing in Texas colonias and increased housing resources such as a successful effort to establish a $55 million fund for housing in Austin and zoning overlay districts requirements for affordable housing as a community benefit. Karen holds degrees in Government and Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master’s in Urban Affairs from the University of Delaware.

Suzanne Baker
Community equity analyst
Suzanne joins Texas Housers to work in all facets of affordable housing, what she describes as an intrinsic part of economic and human development. She holds a B.S. in Leadership Development from Texas State University and is working in San Antonio to expand the reach of our partners in groups like Coalition for Tenant Justice and raise up their reach to a city-wide level. She also is engaging in several 1 on 1 conversations with residents, gaining a deep understanding of the issues affecting them, developing campaigns, and contributing to our research efforts. Her past strengths in development, public engagement, and education will help integrate into affordable housing and eviction prevention. Suzanne spends her spare time designing, redesigning, and repurposing, whether be a garden, a home, a neighborhood, clothing, friendships, or jewelry.

Edwin Bautista
Management assistant
Working in Austin, Edwin maintains an office environment that promotes productivity, provides nonprofit accounting support and assists with with community and regional planning tasks. Edwin graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2020 with a B.A. in Urban Studies and is in pursuit of a M.S. in Community and Regional Planning from UT Austin. He is drawn to the intersection of city planning and policy and has an ambitious goal to restructure contemporary planning practices and policies to more effectively prioritize social equity and environmental sustainability. He is a native north central Texan who speaks Spanish and enjoys going on bike rides to Lady Bird Lake with his dog.

Sidney Beaty
Research analyst
Sidney works out of the Austin office analyzing data and researching policies relevant to the administration of federal housing and disaster recovery programs in the State of Texas. She has a B.S. in Urban and Regional Studies from Cornell University and will soon graduate with master’s degrees in Public Affairs and Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin. She enjoys spending time with her lovable dog Frank and visiting national and state parks.

Michael Depland
Communications manager
As a member of the communications team, Michael writes about matters touching low-income households including equity issues, disaster recovery, environmental justice, and the Texas Legislature to name a few. He provides editorial leadership for the research team and also runs digital strategy for Texas Housers. He graduated with a B.A. in Technical Communication from UTSA and a M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University.

John Henneberger
Director of Special Projects
John is one of Texas’ leading experts on low-income housing issues and a 2014 MacArthur Fellow. He is recognized for his steadfast commitment to social justice, helping low income people advance model solutions to housing issues in their communities, and forging common-ground solutions from diverse housing interests. He is a past board member of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. John’s advocacy work won TxLIHIS the Texas Outstanding Public Service Award from his public interest colleagues. John has a BA in History from the University of Texas at Austin. He has served as an adjunct instructor in Disaster Recovery Housing in the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin.

Erin Hahn
Research analyst
Erin’s research at Texas Housers is focused on the impacts of COVID-19 on affordable housing and communities of color. She evaluates the effectiveness of rental assistance programs to meet the needs of low-income Texans today and the potential for programs to promote housing stability into the future beyond the pandemic. Based in San Antonio, her work also includes tracking local evictions of low-income recipients of federal aid and advocating for their protection against housing discrimination. She graduated from Trinity University in 2021 with a B.A. in Urban Studies and a Minor in Economics.

Taylor Laredo
Community Navigator
Taylor focuses on engaging, educating and mobilizing tenants across the Greater Houston area. He tracks trends in evictions across Harris County through court observations, advocates for more robust tenants’ rights through participation in various campaigns and connects those facing evictions with resources. Taylor holds a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Houston with a minor in Business Administration. In his free time, he enjoys running around Hermann Park, trying his hand at cooking new dishes and playing video games.

Ben Martin 
Research director
Ben analyzes housing need and availability, eviction and foreclosure data, and housing assistance spending at the local, state, and federal level. He supports the organization with a wide variety of research and analysis tasks. Ben is an urban planner whose past work has focused on displacement mitigation, cultural planning, and economic development. He holds an M.S. in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin. He’s also a big music nerd, bike enthusiast, and bookworm.

Riley Metcalfe 
Educator
Riley works in the San Antonio office as an Educator/Facilitator for the Houser Academy program. In this role, he develops and oversees Houser Academy courses and coordinates the collaboration between our statewide Houser Fellows. Before joining Texas Housers, Riley worked as a city planner and high school teacher and has experience with political and union organizing. Born and raised in San Antonio, Riley has a B.A. in Geography and Global Studies from Hofstra University and an M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning from UTSA. In his free time, he likes to travel, cook, and watch the Spurs.

Julia Orduña
Southeast Texas regional director
Julia as regional director focuses on housing affordability, lack of access to safe and dignified housing, and climate change in Houston and surrounding areas. Her work in the organization shines a light on current issues pertaining to disaster recovery and how to address the housing need in a more efficient and equitable manner. She holds a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Texas A&M University and a Masters in Public Administration from Texas A&M International University. She likes musicals, participates in slam poetry, and enjoys spending time with her pet cat.