| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to certain programs established by a municipality to |
|
|
provide affordable housing. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 374.003, Local Government Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Subdivision (1-a) and amending Subdivision (25) |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(1-a) "Affordable housing" means housing that is |
|
|
affordable to households earning 70 percent or less of the area |
|
|
median family income, adjusted for household size, as determined |
|
|
annually by the United States Department of Housing and Urban |
|
|
Development. |
|
|
(25) "Urban renewal activities" includes slum |
|
|
clearance, redevelopment, rehabilitation, and conservation |
|
|
activities to prevent further deterioration of an area that is |
|
|
tending to become a blighted or slum area. The term includes: |
|
|
(A) the acquisition of all or part of a slum area |
|
|
or blighted area or the acquisition of land that is predominantly |
|
|
open and that, because of obsolete platting, diversity of |
|
|
ownership, deterioration of structures or site improvements, or for |
|
|
other reasons, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of |
|
|
the community; |
|
|
(B) the demolition and removal of buildings and |
|
|
improvements; |
|
|
(C) the installation, construction, or |
|
|
reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and |
|
|
other improvements necessary to fulfill urban renewal objectives in |
|
|
accordance with an urban renewal plan; |
|
|
(D) the disposition by the municipality of |
|
|
property acquired in an urban renewal area for use in accordance |
|
|
with an urban renewal plan, including: |
|
|
(i) the sale or initial lease of the |
|
|
property at its fair value; |
|
|
(ii) [or] the retention of the property; |
|
|
and |
|
|
(iii) the transfer of the property to a |
|
|
nonprofit corporation or foundation to be operated exclusively as |
|
|
affordable housing; |
|
|
(E) the implementation of plans for a program of |
|
|
voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings or improvements in |
|
|
accordance with an urban renewal plan; and |
|
|
(F) the acquisition of real property in an urban |
|
|
renewal area as necessary to remove or prevent the spread of blight |
|
|
or deterioration or to provide land for needed public facilities. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 374.017, Local Government Code, is |
|
|
amended by amending Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsection |
|
|
(d-1) to read as follows: |
|
|
(c) The purchaser, [or] lessee, or transferee of property |
|
|
transferred under this section, and a successor in interest to such |
|
|
a person, including an assignee, must devote the property to the |
|
|
uses specified in the urban renewal plan and may be obligated to |
|
|
comply with conditions specified in the deed of conveyance, |
|
|
including the requirement to begin any improvements required by the |
|
|
urban renewal plan within a reasonable time. |
|
|
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (d-1), real [Real] |
|
|
property or an interest in real property subject to this section may |
|
|
only be sold, leased, or otherwise transferred or retained at not |
|
|
less than the fair value of the property for uses in accordance with |
|
|
the urban renewal plan. In determining the fair value, the |
|
|
municipality shall consider: |
|
|
(1) the uses provided in the urban renewal plan; |
|
|
(2) any restrictions on and any covenants, conditions, |
|
|
and obligations assumed by the purchaser, lessee, or municipality |
|
|
in retaining the property; |
|
|
(3) the objectives of the plan for the prevention of |
|
|
the recurrence of slums or blighted areas; and |
|
|
(4) any other matters that the municipality specifies |
|
|
as appropriate. |
|
|
(d-1) A municipality may transfer to a public or private |
|
|
nonprofit corporation or foundation real property or an interest in |
|
|
real property subject to this section for less than fair market |
|
|
value, but only if the deed of conveyance includes a right of |
|
|
reverter so that the property will revert to the municipality if the |
|
|
property is not used exclusively for the provision of affordable |
|
|
housing. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 380.001(a), Local Government Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) The governing body of a municipality may establish and |
|
|
provide for the administration of one or more programs, including |
|
|
programs for making loans and grants of public money or real |
|
|
property and providing personnel and services of the municipality, |
|
|
to promote state or local economic development, [and] to stimulate |
|
|
business and commercial activity in the municipality, and to |
|
|
provide affordable housing in the municipality. For purposes of |
|
|
this subsection, a municipality includes an area that: |
|
|
(1) has been annexed by the municipality for limited |
|
|
purposes; or |
|
|
(2) is in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the |
|
|
municipality. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Section 380.002(a), Local Government Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) A home-rule municipality with a population of more than |
|
|
100,000 may create programs for the grant of public money to any |
|
|
organization exempt from taxation under Section 501(a) of the |
|
|
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as an organization described in |
|
|
Section 501(c)(3) of that code for the public purposes of |
|
|
development and diversification of the economy of the state, |
|
|
elimination of unemployment or underemployment in the state, and |
|
|
development or expansion of commerce in the state. The |
|
|
municipality may also create programs for the grant of real |
|
|
property owned by the municipality to such an organization for the |
|
|
public purpose of providing affordable housing in the municipality. |
|
|
The grants must be in furtherance of those public purposes and shall |
|
|
be used by the recipient as determined by the recipient's governing |
|
|
board for programs found by the municipality to be in furtherance of |
|
|
this section and under conditions prescribed by the municipality. |
|
|
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |