BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2132

By: Bhojani

Intergovernmental Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill author has informed the committee that low income housing is critical for elderly individuals who often live on fixed incomes and face greater financial challenges in securing safe, affordable housing; however, there are concerns that elderly-specific projects may not receive enough consideration or priority in the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) scoring process for the award of low income housing tax credits compared to general population projects, even when they meet the same criteria. The bill author has informed the committee that the system used by TDHCA to score and rank applications for low income housing tax credits does not differentiate between general population projects and those reserved for elderly persons, despite the unique housing needs of senior citizens. The bill author has also informed the committee that stakeholders, including senior advocacy groups and housing developers, have highlighted that elderly-specific projects often face additional challenges and expenses that should be recognized in the scoring system. H.B. 2132 seeks to address this issue by repealing the prohibition against TDHCA allocating low income housing tax credits to developments reserved for elderly persons and located in certain areas.

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

H.B. 2132 amends the Government Code to repeal the provision that prohibits the governing board of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), except as necessary to comply with the nonprofit set-aside required by certain federal law, from allocating low income housing tax credits to developments reserved for elderly persons and located in an urban subregion of a uniform state service region that contains a county with a population of more than one million in an amount that is greater than the percentage of the available credits allocated to developments located in that subregion as calculated by a specified formula, unless there are no other qualified applicants in that region. The bill provides for the awarding of points by TDHCA in the system used to score and rank an application for low income housing tax credits for such a proposed project as follows if the proposed project and a proposed project for the general population comply with a scoring criterion to the same degree:

· removes the prohibition on TDHCA awarding to a proposed project for the general population a number of points for a scoring criterion that is different than the number of such points awarded to a proposed project reserved for elderly persons; and

· authorizes TDHCA to award to a proposed project reserved for elderly persons a number of points for a scoring criterion that is greater than the number of points awarded for that criterion to a proposed project reserved for the general population.

The bill applies only to an application for low income housing tax credits that is submitted to TDHCA during an application cycle that is based on the 2026 qualified allocation plan or a subsequent plan adopted by the governing board of TDHCA. An application that is submitted during an application cycle that is based on an earlier qualified allocation plan is governed by the law in effect on the date the application cycle began, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

H.B. 2132 repeals Sections 2306.6711(h) and (i), Government Code.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.