The Houston Housing Authority (HHA), then known as Housing Authority of the City of Houston (HACH), made a unanimous vote to demolish Allen Parkway Village. This caused residents to begin a campaign to rescue the complex, including activist Lenwood Johnson. The legal campaign reached the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1996 Henry Cisneros, the head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, signed an agreement to allow the City of Houston to demolish 677 of the community's 963 units as long as the site was still used for low income housing. The remaining units have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.