HBA-CMT H.B. 191 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 191 By: Burnam Urban Affairs 3/25/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE People with disabilities are often institutionalized because of a lack of affordable and accessible housing. These persons are also more likely to have a lower income than people without disabilities, and are often unable to secure and maintain employment. Non-elderly persons with disabilities are very likely to have extreme housing cost burdens, and are the single group most likely to live in severely inadequate housing. House Bill 191 requires the state's housing trust fund to allocate at least 15 percent of its funds to assist individuals with special needs for the purpose of developing integrated, accessible housing, providing longterm rent subsidies to those with special needs, and removing barriers to accessibility in existing housing. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the governing board of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in SECTION 2 (Section 2306.203, Government Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 191 amends the Government Code to require that in each biennium at least 15 percent of funds available through the housing trust fund be set aside and made available exclusively to assist individuals with special needs. H.B. 191 requires the governing board of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (board) to adopt rules to administer the housing trust fund, including rules that give priority to programs that assist individuals and families of very low income and for the administration of funds to assist individuals with special needs. The bill requires that rules adopted by the board for administering funds to assist individuals with special needs include rules providing: _for a process to set priorities for use of the set-aside funds; _for the distribution of the set-aside funds under a request for a proposal process developed and approved by the board; and _that the criteria used to rank proposals will include the extent to which the set-aside funds are directed toward development of integrated, multifamily housing projects in which the funds are used to provide units for individuals with special needs, used to provide rental assistance to individuals with special needs living in single-family or multifamily housing, and used to improve the physical accessibility of existing single-family or multifamily housing to individuals with special needs. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.