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Presentation, discussion, and possible action on the adoption of the 2025 State of Texas Low Income Housing Plan and Annual Report; and an order adopting the repeal and new 10 TAC Chapter 1, Subchapter A, General Policies and Procedures, §1.23 concerning State of Texas Low Income Housing Plan and Annual Report and directing their submission to the Texas Register
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RECOMMENDED ACTION
Recommendation
WHEREAS, Tex. Gov’t Code §2306.0721 requires that the Department produce a state low income housing plan, and Tex. Gov’t Code §2306.0722 requires that the Department produce an annual low income housing report;
WHEREAS, Tex. Gov’t Code §2306.0723 requires that the Department consider the annual low income housing plan and report to be a rule;
WHEREAS, at the board meeting of December 12, 2024, the Board approved the proposed repeal and proposed new 10 TAC Chapter 1, Subchapter A, General Policies and Procedures §1.23 concerning State of Texas Low Income Housing Plan and Annual Report, and directed their publication for public comment in the Texas Register; and
WHEREAS public comment was received on the plan, for which the reasoned response is provided herein;
NOW, therefore, it is hereby
RESOLVED, that staff is hereby directed to cause the 2025 State of Texas Low Income Housing Plan and Annual Report, in the form presented to this meeting, together with such grammatical and non-substantive technical corrections as they may deem necessary or advisable is approved and adopted.
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BACKGROUND
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA or the Department) is required to prepare and submit to the Board not later than March 18 of each year an annual report of the Department’s housing activities for the preceding year. This State of Texas Low Income Housing Plan and Annual Report (SLIHP) must be submitted annually to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House, and legislative oversight committee members not later than 30 days after the Board receives and approves the final SLIHP. The document offers a comprehensive reference on statewide housing needs, housing resources, and strategies for funding allocations. It reviews TDHCA's housing programs, current and future policies, resource allocation plans to meet state housing needs, and reports on performance during the preceding state fiscal year (September 1, 2023, through August 31, 2024). It should be noted that for many of the programs represented in the SLIHP, federal funding entities require program-specific planning documents; in those cases, the planning document for the program as submitted to the federal oversight agency is the governing plan.
At the Board meeting of December 12, 2024, the Board approved the release of a draft 2025 SLIHP for public comment. The public comment period for the SLIHP was held from Friday, December 20, 2024, through Monday, January 20, 2025. A public hearing was held on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. The Department received public comment on the draft 2025 SLIHP.
The full text of the 2025 SLIHP may be viewed at the Department’s website at either of the following two locations: TDHCA Public Comment Center: <https://www.tdhca.texas.gov/tdhca-public-comment-center> or TDHCA Board Meeting Information Center: <https://www.tdhca.texas.gov/tdhca-board-meeting-information-center>. The public may also receive a copy of the 2025 SLIHP by contacting the Department’s Housing Resource Center at (512) 475-3976.
Also at the TDHCA Board meeting of December 12, 2024, the Board approved the proposed repeal and proposed new 10 TAC §1.23, concerning State of Texas Low Income Housing Plan and Annual Report, and directed their publication in the Texas Register for public comment. The public comment period for the proposed new 10 TAC §1.23 was also open from Friday, December 20, 2024, through Monday, January 20, 2025, and no public comment on the rule was received.
The Department received 11 comments on the draft plan and report from two sources which are summarized below. This summary is also provided in Public Participation, Section 6 of the SLIHP.
Comment 1: Texas Housers and Disability Rights Texas request that all links in the final document are clickable and all text is selectable.
Department Response 1: Staff agrees. All links in the final document will be clickable and all text will be selectable.
Comment 2: Texas Housers would like information added to the Public Participation section under the “Participation in TDHCA Programs” subsection. The requested additional information would include a brief description of the board materials webpage, a brief description of the TDHCA complaint system, and a brief description of the types of program materials available on the website.
Department Response 2: Staff agrees and has added information about the board materials webpage and the complaint system to the 2025 SLIHP’s Public Participation section under the “Participation in TDHCA Programs” subsection. TDHCA believes that the program links provided in the SLIHP’s Action Plan section are an adequate source of information for the public. Outside of those links more information can be found on the TDHCA website which is located at https://www.tdhca.texas.gov/.
Comment 3: Texas Housers would like links to TDHCA’s email distribution lists and listservs added to the Public Participation section under the “Participation in TDHCA Programs” subsection.
Department Response 3: Staff agrees and will include a link in the plan for how to sign up for TDHCA’s listservs in the 2025 SLIHP’s Public Participation section under the “Participation in TDHCA’s Programs” subsection.
Comment 4: Texas Housers would like TDHCA to include links to the Legislative Budget Board’s (LBB) ABEST performance measures in the Annual Housing Report’s “Progress in Meeting TDHCA Housing and Community Service Goals” subsection.
Department Response 4: A full report on TDHCA’s Legislative Budget Board’s (LBB) Performance Measures are available quarterly in TDHCA’s Board Book and can be found at <https://tdhca.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx>. The Department’s measures are currently posted annually within the published Legislative Appropriations Request and Operating Budget available on the agency’s website. Staff will consider including a link to the Board Book which contains TDHCA’s ABEST performance measures in future editions of the SLIHP. No changes will be made to the 2025 SLIHP in response to this comment.
Comment 5: Texas Housers and Disability Rights Texas ask that TDHCA present special populations data by race, ethnicity, and income in the Housing Analysis section “Special Needs Populations” subsection.
Department Response 5: While staff understands the commenter’s request we believe that this would be outside of the SLIHP’s scope and that TDHCA has satisfied the requirements listed in Sec. 2306.0721 (c)(1) of the SLIHP legislation, which requires the SLIHP include “an estimate and analysis of the housing needs of the following populations in each uniform state service region” - including, per Sec. 2306.0721 (c)(1)(B), “individuals with special needs”: a term further defined in Sec. 2306.511 without regard to race, ethnicity, or income. The data used for this section is publicly available for further analysis by third parties. No changes will be made to the 2025 SLIHP in response to this comment.
Comment 6: Texas Housers and Disability Rights Texas request that TDHCA report data on Texans with Housing Choice Vouchers as a special needs population in the Housing Analysis section “Special Needs Populations” subsection.
Department Response 6: While staff appreciates the commenter’s request, Special Needs Populations are defined in Texas Government Code Sec. 2306.511. This section does not include Housing Choice Voucher recipients as a special population. No change will be made to the 2025 SLIHP in response to this comment.
Comment 7: Texas Housers requested that TDHCA identify which programs are funded from federal sources and state sources in the Annual Housing Report section.
Department Response 7: Staff may consider incorporating this change in future SLIHP documents to identify funding type, for all programs, between federal, state and non-federal/state funding. No change will be made to the 2025 SLIHP in response to this comment.
Comment 8: Texas Housers asks that TDHCA fix the Number of Households Served by Community Affairs table on pg. 62 so that the households are reported under Extremely Low Income and Very Low-Income row and not the Low-Income row.
Department Response 8: Staff agrees and will make this correction.
Comment 9: Texas Housers thanks TDHCA for making Housing Sponsor Report (HSR) data available as an Excel spreadsheet, and a data dashboard. The commenter asks that TDHCA provide additional data including an analysis of tenants receiving government assistance, break down the “government assistance” data in the report so that it specifies how many households receive each type of assistance listed, adding an analysis of cost burden at LIHTC properties by comparing tenant income to unit rent amounts and potentially link to the data dashboard in the SLIHP description of the HSR.
Department Response 9: Staff may consider incorporating the suggested changes in future editions of the HSR. As stated in the HSR, this data is from the Annual Owners Compliance Report (AOCR) and therefore self-reported by properties; TDHCA is currently presenting the most accurate form of the data. No changes will be made to the 2025 SLIHP or Housing Sponsor Report in response to this comment.
Comment 10: Texas Housers asks that the “TDHCA Allocation Plans” in the Action Plan section of the SLIHP include a more detailed description of the QAP process.
Department Response 10: The deadlines and formal process related to the QAP’s development are codified in Tex. Gov’t Code §2306.6724. The Department is unable to formalize a process beyond what is established in statute and the QAP, itself. Generally, workgroups and round-tables are held as needed throughout the year to solicit input on the QAP and to help inform staff. Due to the informal and often ad hoc nature of roundtable discussions and webinars related to QAP topics, staff is unable to commit to a specific timeline or schedule for those events. These events are, however, made publicly available and information about them is announced through the Department’s listservs, which results in generally high attendance. Interested parties are encouraged to sign up for email notifications on the TDHCA website as those emails area source of the requested information. Discussion and input at these events is not considered to be formal public comment under the rulemaking process and this input is not memorialized by the Department; however, any changes that are proposed as a result of these events must go through the public comment and rulemaking processes. Public participation in the annual revision of the QAP is consistently high each year and a summary of the changes, along with copies of all written public comment received, is presented in the materials for the annual November meeting of the Department’s Governing Board. No change will be made to the 2025 SLIHP in response to this comment.
Comment 11: Disability Rights Texas asks TDHCA to include both updated 2024 PIT and AHAR data into the 2025 SLIHP Housing Analysis section.
Department Response 11: Staff agrees with the commenter and has updated the SLIHP’s Housing Analysis section with the most recent PIT and AHAR data, which was unavailable at the time the draft SLIHP was presented.
Summary of Substantial Changes from the 2024 SLIHP:
• Introduction chapter:
o Updates to division descriptions per division director/manager edits.
• Housing Analysis chapter:
o Updated statewide and regional housing analysis (not specific to TDHCA programs)
o Updated TDHCA Service Region Map
o Updated racial and poverty demographic analysis to reduce jargon and increase clarity
o Minor updates and data updates to each special population category.
o Updated housing needs section data
o Updated foreclosure data
o Updated Public Assistance Inventory
• Annual Report chapter:
o Updated to reflect FY 2024 program performance by households/individuals and income group.
• Action Plan chapter:
o Updates made to program descriptions and activities per program area edits.
o Updated RAF Examples for SFY 2025
• Pandemic Response and Other Initiatives
o Updated breakdown of federal funding received by TDHCA
o Updated section that shows each division’s pandemic response programs
• Public Participation chapter
o Updated time and date of SLIHP Hearing
• Colonia Action Plan chapter
o Minor updates to data per staff recommendation
• Appendices
o Updated bibliographical information
o Updated TDHCA Service Region Map
o Updated most recent federal housing data for each state service region.
Attachment A - Adopted repeal 10 TAC §1.23.
Attachment B - Adopted new 10 TAC §1.23.
Attachment C - 2025 SLIHP, as presented to the Board on March 6, 2025.