The Board of Directors of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs approved today a plan to use the Tax Credit Exchange Program (TCEP) to provide financial incentives to low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) developers to provide 10 percent to 20 percent more apartments in their new developments for Texans with incomes at [...]
Read more
Tag Archives: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
$55,000 was the price for community support for affordable housing in Dallas
July 29, 2009
1 Comment
A document introduced into evidence today in the Dallas public corruption trial surrounding the Texas Low Income Housing Tax Credit program indicates that the going price for community support required to win approval of a tax credit development application was $55,000. At least that’s the price that was set out an unsigned 2004 agreement between [...]
Read moreA culture of greed tarnishes the Texas Low Income Housing Tax Credit program
July 16, 2009
4 Comments
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit program in Texas is sometimes more about the developers making money building housing and less about the needs of people who need housing. Evidence of this fact can be found in the ongoing public corruption trial of housing tax credit developers and elected officials in the Dallas federal district court. [...]
Read moreLet’s take care to avoid developer windfalls in the new LIHTC program
July 12, 2009
1 Comment
I haven’t discussed it much yet, but there’s a lot to be said about the new Low Income Housing Tax Credit Exchange Program (TCEP) recently authorized by the federal government. One of the things that needs to be said immediately is that as the state begins to structure how it is going to operate the [...]
Read moreGovernor Perry’s failure to appoint a consumer board member proves costly
June 26, 2009
1 Comment
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) could not meet to conduct business yesterday because it could not get a quorum of board members. As a result the agency is compelled to schedule an “emergency” board meeting for next Monday at Dallas Love Field. All of this could have been avoided had Governor [...]
Read moreTexas LIHTC corruption case should embarrass us into taking action
June 22, 2009
2 Comments
I don’t know who, if anyone, is guilty in the Dallas Low Income Housing Tax Credit public corruption case that is set to get underway in federal court today. But I do believe that all of us who work in affordable housing in Texas are little guilty for not speaking up louder to demand a [...]
Read moreGovernor Perry vetos three affordable housing bills
June 19, 2009
Comments Off
Texas Governor Rick Perry has vetoed three affordable housing bills passed by the Texas Legislature. HB 3983 by Rep. Rodriguez (D-Austin) and Sen. Watson (D-Austin) – Relating to the imposition of property taxes on the residential homesteads of low-income and moderate-income persons. The bill makes technical changes to the Homestead Preservation District law, passed by [...]
Read moreKatrina Cottage pilot program woes due to failure at all levels
June 15, 2009
1 Comment
How many times do we have to hear the story before it sinks in? Let’s sum up the government response to the plight of impoverished hurricane survivors… The federal government is slow and bungling. The state government is slow and would rather spend money on economic development rather than helping poor disaster victims get back [...]
Read moreRoundup of housing related bill action affecting TDHCA by the Texas Legislature
June 14, 2009
1 Comment
I am finally getting around to compiling the list of all the bills that passed and those that did not in the recent session of the Texas Legislature. In today’s post are the bills that affected TDHCA. First is a list of those that passed, followed by those that were filed but did not pass. [...]
Read moreThe struggle begins to successfully design a TX Neighborhood Stabilization Program
March 5, 2009
Comments Off
I have previously expressed concerns about how the new Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) can be successfully implemented. I attended a public hearing last Friday in which officials of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) explained their proposed rules for how the program would be carried out. The NSP program is an attempt [...]
Read moreCan Texas handle the increase in homeless and low-income weatherization funds?
March 3, 2009
Comments Off
All of the money coming to Texas from the economic stimulus bill is a great thing. But as the size of the program begins to sink in there is reason to be concerned over the State’s ability to spend so much money so fast. Two of the programs that are causing the most concern by [...]
Read moreA failed housing program will always come back and bite the responsible entity
February 20, 2009
Comments Off
One had to feel sorry for Michael Gerber Thursday morning. Appearing before a subcommittee of the Texas House Appropriations Committee he was forced to listen as as the Legislators were presented a state auditor’s report excoriating the failure of the state’s initial efforts to provide housing assistance to victims of Hurricane Rita. House members were [...]
Read moreTexas will be forced to ration hurricane home repair grants
January 7, 2009
Comments Off
Texas should allocate the limited disaster funds so that they take care of the housing needs of Hurricane Ike/Dolly survivors as the State’s top priority and relegate funding for government programs to a lower priority. Families’ recovery should come first and government second. If even after making housing the State’s top funding priority, not enough [...]
Read moreLet’s resolve to win a serious housing trust fund for Texas
January 5, 2009
Comments Off
TxLIHIS is ringing in the New Year with a long list of resolutions – from ensuring that low-income hurricane survivors have a shot at sustainable housing recovery, to protecting the homes of lower income families from foreclosure. Chief among our resolutions is finally securing a dedicated revenue source for the Housing Trust Fund- Texas’ only [...]
Read morePut an end to FEMA trailers by moving people quickly into permanent housing
December 15, 2008
Comments Off
She says it far better than I can. We shot this interview with a woman whose home suffered major damage from Hurricane Rita. She describes the type of problems thousands of low income Texas families have encountered trying to get their homes repaired working with FEMA. [BTW - her house is still not repaired today, [...]
Read moreMy suggestions for a Texas disaster housing program
December 14, 2008
2 Comments
In developing a plan to help Texas survivors of Hurricanes Ike and Dolly rebuild their homes I believe the starting point should be the existing Hurricane Rita housing program operated by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). For the reasons I detailed in earlier blog entries, I strongly feel that the basic [...]
Read moreLawsuit alleging race discrimination in Texas housing tax credit program clears hurdle
December 13, 2008
1 Comment
The Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas has denied a motion by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) to throw out a lawsuit alleging the Department is guilty of racial discrimination in the operation of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. The case will now move forward to [...]
Read moreExisting statewide housing program should be the vehicle for assisting Hurricane Ike survivors
December 11, 2008
2 Comments
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) has received criticism from elected officials over the slow pace of the Department’s program to repair and rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Rita. As an advocate for low income families’ housing needs I have been following and commenting on TDHCA’s efforts to set up and operate [...]
Read moreCloser scrutiny will follow Texas expenditure of $1.3 billion in hurricane relief
November 29, 2008
2 Comments
HUD has allocated Texas $1.3 billion of the $2.1 billion in Community Development Block Grant funds that Congress has recently appropriated for disaster recovery. Major allocations also went to Louisiana for Hurricane Edwardo recovery ($438m) and Iowa for flood recovery ($125m). Texas officials had submitted to the feds estimates of about $27 billion for Ike-related [...]
Read morePresident Bush considers pardoning former Texas housing agency board member
November 21, 2008
Comments Off
ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest, is reporting that President Bush is considering a pardon for former Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) board member Florida Bell Griffin. Griffin was convicted and sent to federal prison in a bribery scandal surrounding the Texas Low Income Housing [...]
Read moreSeeking solutions to providing low-income housing in rural Texas
November 17, 2008
Comments Off
Hereford, a Texas Panhandle community of about 15,000, will host an important meeting today to consider how to overcome the barriers to getting affordable housing developed in small towns and rural communities across Texas. While population growth rates in rural communities are often slower than those in urban communities housing needs in these communities are [...]
Read moreRough outlines of Texas $178m Neighborhood Stabilization Program emerge
November 11, 2008
2 Comments
In an attempt to deal with the foreclosure crisis Congress has allocated substantial funding to cities, counties and states to buy up for close to an abandoned properties to prevent them from further depressing property values and causing neighborhoods to deteriorate. We will soon learn whether cities, counties and the state of Texas can successfully [...]
Read moreBrooke Boston, state housing deputy director, is stepping down
October 23, 2008
1 Comment
Brooke Boston, who has served as Deputy Director for Programs at the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for more than eight years, is stepping down to take a position as Deputy Director for the City of Austin’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Office. Brooke is a remarkably competent, dedicated and highly effective government housing [...]
Read moreState housing agency board acts fiscally responsibly on LIHTC awards
September 6, 2008
Comments Off
My compliments to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) board of directors who rejected pleas from low income housing tax credit developers for an across the board increase the in amount of public funds the developers receive. The board acted in a fiscally responsible manner to ensure that the public funds were [...]
Read moreA critical moment in the housing tax credit program looms
August 15, 2008
Comments Off
On August 14 the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) hosted a “work group” to gather input on the options for implementing the components of the new housing bill. The meeting focused on the changes in the law to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program and how to implement those changes [...]
Read moreSomething went terribly wrong at the Pleasant Village Apartments
August 5, 2008
2 Comments
“This is a terrible place to live, and I just don’t know how to get out.” – a resident of the Pleasant Village Apartments in Dallas. Something awful happened at Dallas’ Pleasant Village Apartments last Wednesday. Here’s the chronology as reported in the Dallas Morning News. 10:30 p.m. Tuesday: A fight between girls at the [...]
Read moreTexas Housercast: Talking energy saving and green building in low income housing
August 2, 2008
Comments Off
This week’s Texas housercast is an interview with Walter Moreau, executive director of Austin’s Foundation Communities the state’s largest nonprofit builder/operator of low income housing. Foundation Communities is a state leader in applying green building and energy savings design to multifamily affordable housing. In light of the requirements in the new housing bill mandating green [...]
Read moreLt. Governor Dewhurst pledges to “double or triple” Texas Housing Trust Fund
July 29, 2008
1 Comment
Speaking before the annual Texas Housing Conference Monday, Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst pledged that the Texas Legislature would double or triple the Texas Housing Trust Fund. Last session the Lt. Governor, at the urging of Senator Eddie Lucio and members of Housing Texas, led the successful effort to secure an added $5.8 million per [...]
Read moreLow Income Housing Tax Credit program in Dallas frozen and challanged in lawsuit
July 22, 2008
6 Comments
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit program in Dallas has been effectively shut down for several years and is now the subject of an important civil rights lawsuit. For those who have not followed the travails of the affordable housing program in Dallas let’s review where things stand today. Anyone who has read a newspaper [...]
Read moreTop 10 reasons to be a Texas low income housing optimist
July 13, 2008
Comments Off
I have put on my rose colored glasses and come up with the top ten reasons to be an optimist about low income housing in Texas. Watch the video blog to hear all the details or read the bare bones list below. 1. A National Housing Trust Fund may be established soon. 2. Chances have [...]
Read moreAuthors
- Mitt Romney at private fundraiser: I might eliminate HUD – The Washington Post
-
Bo’s housing news clips: Study finds zoning segregates lower-income students in lower-scoring schools.
-
Texas LIHTC housing program rocked by second earthquake in two months
- Low-Income Housing Program Compels Building in Poor Texas Areas – NYTimes.com
-
Bo’s housing news clips: National home foreclosures and Galveston housing woes are top stories in recent weeks
