Since its founding in 1968, The Housing Corporation has been a leader in the efforts to expand housing opportunities. Its founding chairman, Jackson C. Hinds, was Mayor Louie Welch's chairman of the Housing Advisory Committee, which prepared an application for the Model Cities program for the City and drafted and supported the enactment of a minimum standards housing code. These actions qualified Houston for hundreds of millions of federal dollars for community improvements. The Housing Corporation continues to work closely with the City, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and business leaders in keeping housing a top priority for Houston.