Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
Elizabeth Caldwell, Oklahoma Watch
A father and son from Texas are buying up restricted housing meant for low-income Oklahoma tenants. Then they’re booting the tenants out.
When 36-year-old Sylvia Aguilar moved to Gable Hills Apartments in 2022, she couldn’t have been more relieved. With the help of an affordable housing voucher, she was finally out of the domestic violence shelter she’d been living in with River, her young son. In the complex near Sand Springs, Aguilar quickly bonded with her neighbors.
“There’s so many people that I love out here,” Aguilar said. “We’ve been out here for three years and I’ve become very close to some of these people.”
She settled in, working part-time as a home health aide to an elderly woman. River, who needs extra attention due to health issues, started kindergarten at a local elementary school. They both got into counseling.
But Aguilar’s life took a turn when she came home to find a poorly written letter on her door that said she had 60 days to find a new home. The letter claimed Aguilar was not being evicted, but instead was the victim of an unfortunate matter out of the hands of the Texas-based corporation that bought the apartments in 2024.
“We, agent for the owners, regret to inform your household that due to rental increases not being accepted your lease must terminate,” the letter said. “The unit you reside in has a rent amount of $1,085 which we cannot charge without the agency that offers rental assistance to you approves the increase.”
The letter was signed by Cierra McGlasson, a compliance specialist for Vickery Development Incorporated. McGlasson wrote that because Tulsa Housing Authority refused to cover the approximately $300 rent increase, a difficult and untimely decision was made to force Aguilar out.
“The people who live here, it’s not in their budget to pay that much money,” Aguilar said. “I understand rent increases happen, but not a big jump like that.”
Aguilar is not alone. Oklahoma Watch spoke to about a dozen people on Tulsa assistance across three VDI properties, including two senior communities, who received similar letters. All said many of their neighbors were in the same situation, and one reported being on a lease but still having their rent raised.
But there is more to the story: all three of the Tulsa properties, along with about a dozen other VDI properties scattered across Oklahoma from Ardmore to Stillwater, are restricted by a special tax program meant to deliver housing at below-market rates to vulnerable people. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development describes the Low Income Housing Tax Credit as “the most important resource for creating affordable housing in the United States today.”
The tax credit comes with extensive compliance requirements because it delivers a lot of value. In exchange for keeping a certain number of units open to low-income tenants, landlords at large developments are typically awarded millions through the credit program.
Developers stand to benefit even more in the future. President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act permanently increases state LIHTC funding starting in 2026 and makes the program easier to access.
VDI, owned by Philip and Asa Cascavilla of Dallas, bought all three Tulsa properties, Gable Hills, Edgewood at the Gables, and Crestview Senior Duplexes, in 2024, long after the tax credits should have been distributed to the previous owners. But all three properties are still bound by strict affordability agreements. According to documents from Tulsa County, Crestview’s LIHTC agreement expires first, and it’s good until 2038.
That means all 112 units at Crestview Senior Duplexes should be rented to low-income tenants making 50% or 60% less than the area median income, per the Oklahoma Housing Finance Authority, which regulates LIHTC. But when Oklahoma Watch visited Crestview, there was little activity, and a terrified elderly tenant who wanted to remain anonymous said there was a mass move-out after letters were distributed across the complex.
All but 24 apartments at the other two Tulsa complexes are restricted, according to OHFA, meaning 180 units should be rented to low-income tenants.
HUD regulations specify that LIHTC properties are required to accept vouchers.
Outside of Tulsa, VDI appears to be already limiting the use of vouchers on LIHTC properties without making affordability rules clear, tenants said.
Oklahoma Watch visited The Gardens at Pryor Creek, where every apartment is restricted until 2042, according to its LIHTC agreement and OHFA. Before a manager who refused to answer questions intervened, Oklahoma Watch spoke to five tenants who said they were not aware of any discount to their rents. None reported being on assistance, and only one said they might know someone on assistance, but the manager called the police before the information could be verified. Most of the tenants said they moved in after VDI purchased the property in 2024.
The Gardens’ OHFA agreement also requires renting at least one unit to a homeless person.
At Steeplechase Apartments in Coweta, Oklahoma Watch talked to three people before management called the police. All reported that they did not knowingly receive any rent breaks. OHFA said the complex has 96 units and all 96 are designated for low-income tenants until 2040, according to its LIHTC agreement.
Steeplechase also agreed to set aside one two-bedroom unit for homeless people.
Both Philip and Asa Cascavilla, who are father and son, have a history in Texas of abusing the LIHTC program. According to a 2022 enforcement action, the elder Cascavilla, Philip, was awarded low-income credits in 1993 in the amount of $315,000 annually. Credits are distributed over a 10-year period, per program regulations, so the total award was likely more than $3.1 million in taxpayer money. But the Cascavillas went on to charge 200 units rental fees greater than the LIHTC program allows.
“The Owners have a long history of violations,” the document reads.
Philip Cascavilla was ordered to pay $115,000 in refunds, and the enforcement stipulation mentions two earlier violations that resulted in $6,000 in fines.
Neither Cascavilla answered multiple inquiries delivered through various mediums from Oklahoma Watch.
Asa Cascavilla sits on the board of Dallas Christian School, according to the school’s website, and he describes himself as loving the Lord on social media. His Instagram bio says he is “living the dream.” An article on the website Surf Park Central details his weekend travels on a private jet.
Despite tenants telling Oklahoma Watch that they contacted OHFA about the effective mass eviction in Tulsa, Corey Bornemann, housing development program manager, said he was unaware of the situation because it was likely reported to another department, but that it would be investigated.
“We take allegations such as this very seriously,” said Bornemann.
The tax credit requirements specify that state housing authorities must visit qualified properties every three years to verify regulations are being met, Bornemann said. OHFA inspected most of the properties in this article after VDI bought them in February 2024, but didn’t elaborate on the results of those inquiries. Oklahoma Watch has requested the inspection records.
For its part, Tulsa Housing Authority says it can’t afford to cover rent increases due to federal cuts. President Trump has proposed slashing rental assistance programs 43% for fiscal year 2026 even as the voucher waitlist in Tulsa is closed due to demand.
THA has so far advised tenants effectively being evicted from properties meant for them to move. It declined to answer questions around the ethics of that stance.
Meanwhile, Sylvia Aguilar is hoping to raise $1,000 with a GoFundMe so she can move.
“It just sucks,” she said. “It sucks so bad. I’m going to have to start over in a new area. I’m going to have to find a different counseling place for us now. I’m going to have to find more resources for us now. And I still don’t know where we’re going at this point.”
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
Elizabeth Caldwell is a Tulsa-based journalist and contributor to Oklahoma Watch.
Get Local News!
