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 to Persons with Disabilities and/or 2) fail to supply evidence of affirmative marketing efforts.”
As previously discussed here at Texas Housers, Texans living on SSI can be more difficult to locate, contact, and market to than their higher income counterparts. This makes pro-active outreach to this community vital to connecting income-eligible persons with disabilities with the limited affordable housing opportunities in this state.
An open records request to the Compliance Division identified over 300 properties that have at some point been cited for Failure to provide an Affirmative Marketing Plan. An example case: Town Park Townhomes (Houston, TX), a property that was inspected last August and was found to have no affirmative marketing plan whatsoever. According to TDHCA records, this property is still in non-compliance.
That is not cool.
