By: Moncrief S.B. No. 1259
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to use of the housing trust fund to benefit certain
1-2 individuals.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 2306.202, Government
1-5 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) The department, through the housing finance division,
1-7 shall use the housing trust fund to provide loans, grants, or other
1-8 comparable forms of assistance to local units of government, public
1-9 housing authorities, nonprofit organizations, and income-eligible
1-10 individuals, families, and households to finance, acquire,
1-11 rehabilitate, and develop decent, safe, and sanitary housing. In
1-12 each biennium at least 15 percent of funds available through the
1-13 housing trust fund shall be set aside and made available
1-14 exclusively to assist individuals with special needs, as defined by
1-15 Section 2306.511. In each biennium the first $2.6 million
1-16 available through the housing trust fund for loans, grants, or
1-17 other comparable forms of assistance shall be set aside and made
1-18 available exclusively for local units of government, public housing
1-19 authorities, and nonprofit organizations. Any additional funds may
1-20 also be made available to for-profit organizations so long as at
1-21 least 45 percent of available funds in excess of the first $2.6
1-22 million shall be made available to nonprofit organizations for the
1-23 purpose of acquiring, rehabilitating, and developing decent, safe,
1-24 and sanitary housing. The remaining portion shall be competed for
2-1 by nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, and other
2-2 eligible entities. Notwithstanding any other section of this
2-3 chapter, but subject to the limitations in Section 2306.251(c), the
2-4 department may also use the fund to acquire property to endow the
2-5 fund.
2-6 SECTION 2. Section 2306.203, Government Code, is amended to
2-7 read as follows:
2-8 Sec. 2306.203. RULES REGARDING ADMINISTRATION OF HOUSING
2-9 TRUST FUND. (a) The board shall adopt rules to administer the
2-10 housing trust fund, including rules providing:
2-11 (1) that the division give priority to programs that
2-12 maximize federal resources and to programs that assist individuals
2-13 and families of very low income;
2-14 (2) for a process to set priorities for use of the
2-15 fund, including the distribution of fund resources under a request
2-16 for a proposal process developed and approved by the board;
2-17 (3) that the criteria used to rank proposals will
2-18 include the:
2-19 (A) leveraging of federal resources;
2-20 (B) cost-effectiveness of a proposed
2-21 development; and
2-22 (C) extent to which individuals and families of
2-23 very low income are served by the development;
2-24 (4) that funds may not be made available to a
2-25 development that permanently and involuntarily displaces
2-26 individuals and families of low income;
3-1 (5) that the board attempt to allocate funds to
3-2 achieve a broad geographical distribution with:
3-3 (A) special emphasis on equitably serving rural
3-4 and nonmetropolitan areas; and
3-5 (B) consideration of the number and percentage
3-6 of income-qualified families in different geographical areas;
3-7 [and]
3-8 (6) that multifamily housing developed or
3-9 rehabilitated through the fund remain affordable to
3-10 income-qualified households for at least 20 years; and
3-11 (7) for the administration of funds set aside under
3-12 Section 2306.202(a) to assist individuals with special needs.
3-13 (b) Rules adopted by the board under Subsection (a)(7) shall
3-14 include rules providing:
3-15 (1) for a process to set priorities for use of the
3-16 set-aside funds;
3-17 (2) for the distribution of the set-aside funds under
3-18 a request for a proposal process developed and approved by the
3-19 board; and
3-20 (3) that the criteria used to rank proposals will
3-21 include the extent to which the set-aside funds are:
3-22 (A) directed toward development of integrated,
3-23 multifamily housing projects in which the funds are used to provide
3-24 units for individuals with special needs;
3-25 (B) used to provide rental assistance to
3-26 individuals with special needs living in single-family or
4-1 multifamily housing; and
4-2 (C) used to improve the physical accessibility
4-3 of existing single-family or multifamily housing to individuals
4-4 with special needs.
4-5 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-6 SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
4-7 to assistance provided through the housing trust fund on or after
4-8 the effective date of this Act. Assistance provided before the
4-9 effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
4-10 assistance was provided, and the former law is continued in effect
4-11 for that purpose.
4-12 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
4-17 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
4-18 Amend S.B. No. 1259 (engrossed version) in SECTION 1 of the
4-19 bill, in amended Section 2306.202(a), Government Code (page 1, line
4-20 11), by striking "In" and substituting "The department shall adopt
4-21 the goal that if the department receives a sufficient number of
4-22 satisfactory, eligible applications, in".
4-23 Burnam