1-1 By: Moncrief S.B. No. 1259
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Human Services;
1-4 April 28, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5,
1-5 Nays 0; April 28, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to use of the housing trust fund to benefit certain
1-9 individuals.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 2306.202, Government
1-12 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-13 (a) The department, through the housing finance division,
1-14 shall use the housing trust fund to provide loans, grants, or other
1-15 comparable forms of assistance to local units of government, public
1-16 housing authorities, nonprofit organizations, and income-eligible
1-17 individuals, families, and households to finance, acquire,
1-18 rehabilitate, and develop decent, safe, and sanitary housing. In
1-19 each biennium at least 15 percent of funds available through the
1-20 housing trust fund shall be set aside and made available
1-21 exclusively to assist individuals with special needs, as defined by
1-22 Section 2306.511. In each biennium the first $2.6 million
1-23 available through the housing trust fund for loans, grants, or
1-24 other comparable forms of assistance shall be set aside and made
1-25 available exclusively for local units of government, public housing
1-26 authorities, and nonprofit organizations. Any additional funds may
1-27 also be made available to for-profit organizations so long as at
1-28 least 45 percent of available funds in excess of the first $2.6
1-29 million shall be made available to nonprofit organizations for the
1-30 purpose of acquiring, rehabilitating, and developing decent, safe,
1-31 and sanitary housing. The remaining portion shall be competed for
1-32 by nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, and other
1-33 eligible entities. Notwithstanding any other section of this
1-34 chapter, but subject to the limitations in Section 2306.251(c), the
1-35 department may also use the fund to acquire property to endow the
1-36 fund.
1-37 SECTION 2. Section 2306.203, Government Code, is amended to
1-38 read as follows:
1-39 Sec. 2306.203. RULES REGARDING ADMINISTRATION OF HOUSING
1-40 TRUST FUND. (a) The board shall adopt rules to administer the
1-41 housing trust fund, including rules providing:
1-42 (1) that the division give priority to programs that
1-43 maximize federal resources and to programs that assist individuals
1-44 and families of very low income;
1-45 (2) for a process to set priorities for use of the
1-46 fund, including the distribution of fund resources under a request
1-47 for a proposal process developed and approved by the board;
1-48 (3) that the criteria used to rank proposals will
1-49 include the:
1-50 (A) leveraging of federal resources;
1-51 (B) cost-effectiveness of a proposed
1-52 development; and
1-53 (C) extent to which individuals and families of
1-54 very low income are served by the development;
1-55 (4) that funds may not be made available to a
1-56 development that permanently and involuntarily displaces
1-57 individuals and families of low income;
1-58 (5) that the board attempt to allocate funds to
1-59 achieve a broad geographical distribution with:
1-60 (A) special emphasis on equitably serving rural
1-61 and nonmetropolitan areas; and
1-62 (B) consideration of the number and percentage
1-63 of income-qualified families in different geographical areas;
1-64 [and]
2-1 (6) that multifamily housing developed or
2-2 rehabilitated through the fund remain affordable to
2-3 income-qualified households for at least 20 years; and
2-4 (7) for the administration of funds set aside under
2-5 Section 2306.202(a) to assist individuals with special needs.
2-6 (b) Rules adopted by the board under Subsection (a)(7) shall
2-7 include rules providing:
2-8 (1) for a process to set priorities for use of the
2-9 set-aside funds;
2-10 (2) for the distribution of the set-aside funds under
2-11 a request for a proposal process developed and approved by the
2-12 board; and
2-13 (3) that the criteria used to rank proposals will
2-14 include the extent to which the set-aside funds are:
2-15 (A) directed toward development of integrated,
2-16 multifamily housing projects in which the funds are used to provide
2-17 units for individuals with special needs;
2-18 (B) used to provide rental assistance to
2-19 individuals with special needs living in single-family or
2-20 multifamily housing; and
2-21 (C) used to improve the physical accessibility
2-22 of existing single-family or multifamily housing to individuals
2-23 with special needs.
2-24 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-25 SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
2-26 to assistance provided through the housing trust fund on or after
2-27 the effective date of this Act. Assistance provided before the
2-28 effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
2-29 assistance was provided, and the former law is continued in effect
2-30 for that purpose.
2-31 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-32 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-33 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-34 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-35 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-36 * * * * *