By: West S.B. No. 1895
 
 
 
   
 
 
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.