BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3660

By: Dutton

Urban Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law requires the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to set aside not less than 15 percent of the available low-income housing tax credits in a calendar year for eligible at-risk developments. While this requirement helps ensure the development of affordable housing units in traditionally underserved areas, interested parties explain that there continue to be large pockets within cities where the availability of affordable housing remains constrained.  C.S.H.B. 3660 seeks to address this need.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3660 amends the Government Code to change from not less than 15 percent to not less than 20 percent the percent of low-income housing tax credits available for allocation in the calendar year that the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is required to set aside for eligible at-risk developments. The bill requires five percent of those tax credits set aside for eligible at-risk developments to be made available only with respect to developments that receive the benefit of a subsidy under the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The bill applies only to the allocation of low-income housing tax credits for an application cycle that begins on or after January 1, 2017.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2015.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3660 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.