The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) audit committee meets next week, and their meeting packet is up at the TDHCA website. A couple of things caught my eye: An Internal Audit repor of the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), including that part of the program funded under the Recovery Act was released. In [...]
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TDHCA Executive Director Michael Gerber Stepping Down
April 20, 2011
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Quorum Report is reporting that TDHCA Executive Director Michael Gerber will be stepping down from the helm of TDHCA in mid-June. Mr. Gerber joined the department in 2006, coming from Governor Rick Perry’s Office of Budget, Planning, and Policy. 5/2 update: Per the meeting packet for the TDHCA Board Meeting, TDHCA General Counsel Tim Irvine [...]
Read moreFirst Time Homebuyer Programs at TDHCA and TSAHC
April 19, 2011
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Both the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation operate First Time Homebuyer Programs using funds from the state bond ceiling. TxLIHIS has recently completed an analysis of these programs. We found some differences in the programs, although the differences are not large and may reflect the different focuses [...]
Read moreTexas NSP Program Audit
April 15, 2011
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The Internal Auditing Division of the Texas Department of Community Affairs released a report last week on TDHCA’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The topline finding: “The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs’ (Department) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) is not operating as efficiently as it could and may not fully comply with all program rules and [...]
Read moreBo McCarver’s weekly news compilation, 4-12-2011
April 12, 2011
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Tuesday Report, April 12, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service “Things are going to get worse before they get better” seems to be the mantra of economists following the US housing industry. The Obama Administration’s efforts to jump-start new mortgages and salvage troubled ones have largely failed. Republicans are now calling [...]
Read moreJohn Henneberger Testimony at Urban Affairs on TDHCA Sunset
April 11, 2011
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TxLIHIS co-director John Henneberger testified last week at the Texas House Urban Affairs Hearing on TDHCA’s Sunset process. His testimony, as well as the introduction of the TDHCA Sunset Bill by Rep. Harper Brown, is available below via Youtube. (John Henneberger’s testimony starts at 7.24 of the clip, following Rep. Harper Brown’s statements.)
Read moreBo McCarver’s weekly news compilation, 4-8-2011
April 8, 2011
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Tuesday Report, April 5, 2010 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service New mortgage rules that make banks accountable for lending risks are shaking up the housing industry. The heady days of bundling bad mortgages and selling them off to naïve companies are gone. Meanwhile, lending companies are having to accept short sales [...]
Read moreIt’s NIMBY Time…Again
April 6, 2011
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“We realize that not all residents of an affordable housing development will, by default, be criminals. However, we are also not ignorant to the fact, which is supported by real statistics, that many criminals (especially violent criminals, drug-related criminals, and sex-offenders) tend to come from a lower socio-economic class. […] We feel that in this [...]
Read moreTDHCA Sunset Bill up in House Urban Affairs Wed
April 4, 2011
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The Sunset Bills for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation will be up in the Texas House Committee for Urban Affairs on Wednesday at 10.30 AM or on adjournment. The video should be available here: http://www.house.state.tx.us/video-audio/. Our previous coverage of the Sunset Process can be found [...]
Read moreWeekend Budget Fun
April 3, 2011
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The Texas House met over the weekend to consider HB 1, the budget. Thursday, we noted a couple of amendments worth watching. Following up on them, it appears: Rep. Alvarado’s amendment (page 323 of pre-filed bill package) was pulled by the author prior to reaching the floor. The intent of this amendment lives on in [...]
Read moreHouse Budget Amendments Affect TDHCA Programs
March 31, 2011
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It’s Budget Time! The House takes up HB 1, the FY 12-13 Budget tomorrow. All of the amendments are up for public viewing at the Texas Tribune, but these three are of special interest to folks following the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs: An Article III Amendment by Rep. Torres (p. 170) zeros [...]
Read moreChecking in on the Weatherization Assistance Program
March 21, 2011
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There were two recent updates, one federal and one local, on the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) program as funded under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Federally, the Congressional House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations recently had a hearing on the status of Recovery Act Spending by the Department of Energy (DOE). [...]
Read moreGovernor Announces New TDHCA, TSAHC Board Members
March 18, 2011
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This month Gov. Rick Perry has made two new housing related appointments. He appointed J.Paul Oxer of Sugar Land to the board of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and Jerry Romero of El Paso to the board of the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation. From the Gov’s press release regarding Mr. Oxer’s [...]
Read moreBo McCarver’s weekly news compilation, 3-15-2011
March 15, 2011
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Tuesday Report, March 15, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service The horror stories of screwed homeowners continue to surface as Congress prepares to stifle any relief programs. The cuts are now extended to veteran’s with a proposal to cut housing vouchers by 10,000 annually. In Fort Bend, NIMBYs protest an affordable [...]
Read moreJohn Henneberger Testimony at Senate Finance on TDHCA Budget
March 9, 2011
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TxLIHIS co-director John Henneberger testified last week at the Senate Finance Hearing on TDHCA’s budget and Disaster Recovery funding in Texas. His testimony is available below via Youtube.
Read moreSubsidized Housing In Texas Often Fails to Provide Outreach to the Persons with Disabilities
March 4, 2011
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The Compliance Division of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs cites Failure to provide an Affirmative Marketing Plan as the top non-compliance item it identified in its 600 on-site inspections in 2010. An article in its annual Newsletter states “Developments are typically cited for this finding because they 1) fail to affirmatively market [...]
Read moreHouse Appropriations Axes Homeless Funds and Majority of Housing Trust Fund
February 22, 2011
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This morning the Texas House Appropriations Committee (HAC) met and adopted the LBB recommendations for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) budget. They made a small change related to the language for IT purchases, but otherwise adopted the LBB recommendations in full. The LBB budget recommendation for TDHCA represents only 29% of [...]
Read moreStudy of State’s Use of LIHTC Boost
February 21, 2011
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This month the “Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits” included an article examining how different states utilize their ability to offer some Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) developments a 30% “boost” in funding. (article link here). As regular readers know, the LIHTC program is a federal program that supports the production of affordable multifamily housing. [...]
Read moreObserver Article on Disaster Recovery
February 18, 2011
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“We had an expensive and painful learning process under Rita, and we didn’t apply those lessons to Ike and Dolly,” says Henneberger. The Texas Observer is running a cover story which outlines the frustrating state of affairs of Disaster Recovery in Texas. The article, which quotes Texas Low Income Housing Co-Director John Henneberger, can [...]
Read moreBo McCarver’s weekly news compilation, 2-15-2011
February 15, 2011
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Tuesday Report, February 15, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Ike damage remains, and as part of its proposal to revamp Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Obama Administration plans to get out of the business of creating new homeowners. The practice of financing marginal loans has contributed to major federal [...]
Read moreJohn Henneberger Testimony at TDHCA Appropriations Hearing
February 14, 2011
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TxLIHIS co-director John Henneberger testified this morning at the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee Hearing on TDHCA. His testimony, along with that of Sarah Mills of Advocacy Inc., is available below via Youtube.
Read moreHousing: The Newest Utility?
February 9, 2011
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Governor’s office released their budget yesterday. Their proposed solution to the growing family homeless population in Texas? Flatline not only the “Homeless and Housing Services” budget, but eliminate the entire Department of Housing and Community Affairs. The exact proposal: “Consolidate the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and its functions to the Texas State [...]
Read moreWAP Update
February 4, 2011
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We’ve discussed the ARRA Weatherization Assistance Program a few times here at Texas Housers, focusing on perceived shortcomings creating local jobs in the low-income communities served by the program and our take on early news coverage of its “slow start”. Last week’s Texas Observer had a more up-beat view of the program. In an article [...]
Read moreBo McCarver’s weekly news compilation, 2-1-2011
February 1, 2011
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Tuesday Report, Feb. 1, 2011 Special to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service The Congressional Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission issued its report that echoes earlier analyses: shaky loans and a “gold rush” mentality in the housing market sparked the recession. Finger-pointing, indifference and ineptitude emerge from the collage of testimonies by bank executives. The [...]
Read moreTwo Reports from the HUD OIG on Texas Entities
January 31, 2011
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HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released two audit reports on Texas entities last week. One report covered $503 million of the Katrina, Rita, and Wilma disaster recovery funds that flowed through TDHCA’s CDBG program, while the other report covered $725,546 in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act) [...]
Read moreBlack-White Segregation in Small and Mid-sized Texas Cities
January 24, 2011
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I realized that my last two posts on black/white segregation in Texas focused on data from the large urban centers of the state. I don’t mean to imply this is not a statewide phenomenon. As a follow-up, I’ve pulled maps from Remapping Debate’s data tool for a couple of small and mid-sized cities in the [...]
Read moreLBB Proposal Released for TDHCA Budget
January 19, 2011
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The Legislative Budget Board dropped their 2012-13 budget proposal this morning. TDHCA’s sections can be found here (h/t Texas Tribune). TDHCA’s budget is proposed to be cut 86.2%, including 65% of its General Revenue appropriations. Notably on the chopping block: half of the housing trust fund and the entire “Homeless and Housing Services” budget. The [...]
Read moreACS Segregation Data II
January 18, 2011
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In a natural followup to yesterday’s post, Remapping Debate this morning released a look at the segregation patterns revealed by an analysis of the American Community Survey at the Census Block Group level. (A Census Block Group is smaller than a census tract and more closely represents natural neighborhood size). Highlights from their national [...]
Read moreThe state of Black-White Segregation in Texas
January 17, 2011
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Last month the Brookings Institution released a set of segregation measures about the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. This data was based on the 2005-2009 American Community Survey, the census instrument replacing the “long form” census collection. In Texas, black-white segregation declined from 2000 to 2009, as measured by the index of [...]
Read moreIntroduction to an “Analysis of Impediments”
January 10, 2011
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One of the conditions of the TxLIHIS – Texas Appleseed – State of Texas Fair Housing settlement on hurricane recovery is that the state will update its Analysis of Impediments (AI) to Fair Housing. This piece by Elizabeth Nowrouz gives some basic background for readers about what an AI is. The 1974 Housing and Community [...]
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- Mitt Romney at private fundraiser: I might eliminate HUD – The Washington Post
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Bo’s housing news clips: Study finds zoning segregates lower-income students in lower-scoring schools.
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Texas LIHTC housing program rocked by second earthquake in two months
- Low-Income Housing Program Compels Building in Poor Texas Areas – NYTimes.com
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Bo’s housing news clips: National home foreclosures and Galveston housing woes are top stories in recent weeks
