81R4731 JAM-D

By: Davis of Dallas H.B. No. 2296

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the administration of certain housing funds by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 2306.201, Government Code, is amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:

(b) The fund consists of:

(1) appropriations or transfers made to the fund;

(2) unencumbered fund balances;

(3) public or private gifts, [or] grants, or donations;

(4) investment income, including all interest, dividends, capital gains, or other income from the investment of any portion of the fund;

(5) repayments received on loans made from the fund; and

(6) funds from any other source.

(c) The department may accept gifts, grants, or donations for the housing trust fund. All funds received for the housing trust fund under Subsection (b) shall be deposited or transferred into the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company.

SECTION 2. Section 2306.202(a), Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) The department, through the housing finance division, shall use the housing trust fund to provide loans, grants, or other comparable forms of assistance to local units of government, public housing authorities, nonprofit organizations, and income-eligible individuals, families, and households to finance, acquire, rehabilitate, and develop decent, safe, and sanitary housing. In each biennium the first $2.6 million available through the housing trust fund for loans, grants, or other comparable forms of assistance shall be set aside and made available exclusively for local units of government, public housing authorities, and nonprofit organizations. Any additional funds may also be made available to for-profit organizations provided that [so long as] at least 45 percent of available funds, as determined on September 1 of each state fiscal year, in excess of the first $2.6 million shall be made available to nonprofit organizations for the purpose of acquiring, rehabilitating, and developing decent, safe, and sanitary housing. The remaining portion shall be distributed to [competed for by] nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, and other eligible entities. Notwithstanding any other section of this chapter, but subject to the limitations in Section 2306.251(c), the department may also use the fund to acquire property to endow the fund.

SECTION 3. Section 2306.203, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 2306.203. RULES REGARDING ADMINISTRATION OF HOUSING TRUST FUND. The board shall adopt rules to administer the housing trust fund, including rules providing:

(1) that the division give priority to programs that maximize federal resources;

(2) for a process to set priorities for use of the fund, including the distribution of fund resources in accordance with a plan that is [under a request for a proposal process] developed and approved by the board and included in the department's annual report regarding the housing trust fund as described in the General Appropriations Act;

(3) that the criteria used to evaluate a proposed activity [rank proposals] will include the:

(A) leveraging of [federal] resources;

(B) cost-effectiveness of the [a] proposed activity [development]; and

(C) extent to which individuals and families of very low income are served by the proposed activity [development];

(4) that funds may not be made available for a proposed activity [to a development] that permanently and involuntarily displaces individuals and families of low income;

(5) that the board attempt to allocate funds to achieve a broad geographical distribution with:

(A) special emphasis on equitably serving rural and nonmetropolitan areas; and

(B) consideration of the number and percentage of income-qualified families in different geographical areas; and

(6) that multifamily housing developed or rehabilitated through the fund remain affordable to income-qualified households for at least 20 years.

SECTION 4. Sections 2306.753(b) and (d), Government Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b) To be eligible for a loan under this subchapter, an owner-builder:

(1) may not have an annual income that exceeds 60 percent, as determined by the department, of the greater of the state or local median family income, when combined with the income of any person who resides with the owner-builder;

(2) must have resided in this state for the preceding six months;

(3) must have successfully completed an owner-builder education class under Section 2306.756; and

(4) must agree to:

(A) provide through personal labor at least 65 [60] percent of the labor necessary to build the proposed housing by working through a state-certified owner-builder housing program; [or]

(B) provide an amount of personal labor equivalent to the amount required under Paragraph (A) in connection with building housing for others through a state-certified nonprofit owner-builder housing program; or

(C) if approved by the department, provide through noncontract labor of friends, family, or volunteers at least 65 percent of the labor necessary to build the proposed housing by working through a state-certified owner-builder housing program.

(d) At least two-thirds of the dollar amount of loans made under this subchapter in each fiscal year must be made to borrowers whose property is located in a county that is in a census tract that has a median household income that is not greater than 75 percent of the median state household income for the most recent year for which statistics are available [eligible to receive financial assistance under Subchapter K, Chapter 17, Water Code].

SECTION 5. Sections 2306.754(a), (b), and (c), Government Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) The department may establish the minimum amount of a loan under this subchapter, but a loan made by the department may not exceed $45,000 [$30,000].

(b) If it is not possible for an owner-builder to purchase necessary real property and build adequate housing for $45,000 [$30,000], the owner-builder must obtain the amount necessary that exceeds $45,000 [$30,000] from one or more local governmental entities, nonprofit organizations, or private lenders or from grants awarded by the department for the purposes of this subchapter. The total amount of amortized, repayable loans made by the department and other entities to an owner-builder under this subchapter may not exceed $90,000 [$60,000].

(c) A loan made by the department under this subchapter:

(1) may not exceed a term of 30 years;

(2) may bear interest at a fixed rate of not more than three percent or bear interest in the following manner:

(A) no interest for the first two years of the loan;

(B) beginning with the second anniversary of the date the loan was made, interest at the rate of one percent a year;

(C) beginning on the third anniversary of the date the loan was made and ending on the sixth anniversary of the date the loan was made, interest at a rate that is one percent greater than the rate borne in the preceding year; and

(D) beginning on the sixth anniversary of the date the loan was made and continuing through the remainder of the loan term, interest at the rate of five percent; and

(3) shall [may] be secured by a lien by the department on the real property, including a lien that is subordinate to a lien that secures a loan made under Subsection (b), regardless of whether the other lien [and that] is greater than, equal to, or less than the department's lien.

SECTION 6. Section 2306.758(c), Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) In a state fiscal year, the department may use not more than 10 percent of the revenue available for purposes of this subchapter to enhance the ability of tax-exempt organizations described by Section 2306.755(a) to implement the purposes of this chapter and to enhance the number of such organizations that are able to implement those purposes. The department shall use that available revenue to provide financial assistance, technical training, and management support for the purposes of this subsection.

SECTION 7. Section 2306.7581(a-1), Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a-1) Each state fiscal year the department shall transfer an amount equal to the greater of $6 million or an amount of funds that is based on the annual volume of demand for the owner-builder loan program, as determined using the total amount of loan originations made under the program in the preceding state fiscal year, [at least $3 million] to the owner-builder revolving fund from money received under the federal HOME Investment Partnerships program established under Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. Section 12701 et seq.), from money in the housing trust fund, or from money appropriated by the legislature to the department. This subsection expires August 31, 2020 [2010].

SECTION 8. (a) The change in law made by this Act in amending Sections 2306.202, 2306.203, 2306.758, and 2306.7581, Government Code, applies beginning with the state fiscal year that begins September 1, 2009.

(b) The change in law made by this Act in amending Sections 2306.753 and 2306.754, Government Code, applies only to owner-builder loans granted by the department on or after the effective date of this Act. An owner-builder loan granted before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the loan was granted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 9. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009.