Houston pays former Trump aides $150,000 to advise Whitmire on homelessness policy

Houston city officials retained a conservative consulting firm this year to assist with Mayor John Whitmire's initiative to address homelessness, the mayor's office said Thursday.

Red Door Consulting founding partners Scott Centorino and Sam Adolphsen served as assistants to President Donald Trump at the beginning of his current term, when they helped write and execute dozens of executive orders, according to the firm's website. The firm says its mission is to "help advocacy organizations, businesses, and candidates win with conservative policy."

The city issued two purchase orders for the firm's services this year for a total of $150,000, according to documents obtained through a public records request. Red Door Consulting charged the city $10,000 per month.

Joshua Sanders, Whitmire's Director of Intergovernmental Relations, wrote in a document in February that the firm would help "identify and prepare potential proactive legislation, assist in tracking adverse legislation, legislative appropriations, and grant opportunities to support the city's strategy regarding homelessness."

In a statement, Centorino said he helps Houston "partner with federal agencies in Washington to reduce homelessness because the city's leadership is taking a results-driven approach that is evidence-based, compassionate, and community-centered."

"The city has a powerful story to tell — of putting partisanship and ideology aside, just looking at what works, and focusing on results," Centorino wrote. "I'm proud to help the city share that story in Washington."

Red Door Consulting lists the city as a client in its lobbying disclosure registration with the federal government. The firm also lists weapons and technology company Axon and the New England Fishermen's Stewardship Association, which opposes offshore wind energy development and supports fishing deregulation.

Whitmire has made addressing homelessness a central pillar of his mayoral administration. The centerpiece of his plan is a 222-bed residential treatment center in East Downtown that currently depends on about $40 million in one-time federal funding for its first three years of operation.

City officials have said they will seek continuing funding for the facility from a range of potential sources, including the federal government.

"Red Door Consulting was retained to help the City of Houston to better understand the new administration's policy positions regarding homelessness," a spokesperson for Whitmire's office said in a statement. "Red Door Consulting's work for the City of Houston focused solely on the administration and relevant departments."

After five decades as a Democratic member of the Texas Legislature, Whitmire has leaned on his relationship with Republicans in Austin to secure funding for Houston. He won $32 million in recovery funds from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott after Hurricane Beryl and the derecho wind event in 2024. Whitmire also celebrated more than $200 million in direct appropriations to the city from the state legislature during its last session in 2025.

Trump's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner, a former member of the Texas House, has made two public appearances with Whitmire to tout the use of about $315 million in disaster recovery funds for a number of initiatives, including the homeless service center in East Downtown.

"The mayor has often emphasized pragmatism over partisanship," Brandon Rottinghaus, political science professor at the University of Houston, said. "Cities are competing for limited state and federal resources, and lobbyists who understand the priorities of the powers that be in Austin or in D.C. and that decision-making process may offer advantages in navigating that competition."

Under Turner, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has attempted to overhaul the way it funds local policies addressing homelessness. In Houston, that could mean changes to how the Coalition for the Homeless allocates about $70 million in annual funding from HUD.

Local officials attribute the reduction in Harris County's homeless population from more than 8,000 in 2011 to about 3,000 in recent years to a "housing-first" approach, in which service providers seek long-term housing for homeless people.

About 57% of the Houston area's federal allocation supports permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless people, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.