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Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding a waiver of 10 TAC §11.101(b)(8)(E) of the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) relating to the square footage of accessible units for Park at Fort Bend (#26401).
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RECOMMENDED ACTION
recommendation
WHEREAS, a 4% Housing Tax Credit application was submitted for The Park at Fort Bend on January 23, 2026;
WHEREAS, subsequent to the submission of the tax credit application, the applicant submitted a request for a waiver relating to the proposed rehabilitation of The Park at Fort Bend, which is an existing housing tax credit development that received an award of 4% Housing Tax Credits in 1999;
WHEREAS, pursuant to 10 TAC §11.101(b)(8)(E) of the 2026 QAP, accessible Units must have an equal or greater square footage than the square footage offered in the smallest non-accessible Unit with the same number of Bedrooms and Full Bathrooms;
WHEREAS, the applicant requests a waiver of 10 TAC §11.101(b)(8)(E) related to the minimum square footage requirements for accessible Units; and
WHEREAS, staff recommends a waiver be granted pursuant to 10 TAC §11.207 based on specific factors related to the development, including the fact that the proposed reconfiguration of Units within the development results in the creation of all new accessible Units at the expense of square footage within said accessible Units, and on the basis that granting the waiver better serves the purposes articulated in Tex. Gov’t Code §2306.001(2) by providing affordable housing to meet the needs of individuals and families and §2306.6701 by contributing to the preservation of affordable units;
NOW, therefore, it is hereby
RESOLVED, that a waiver of 10 TAC §11.101(b)(8)(E) related to the minimum square footage requirements of accessible Units for The Park at Fort Bend, as explained herein, is hereby granted.
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BACKGROUND
General Information: The Park at Fort Bend is an existing Housing Tax Credit (HTC) property located at 3301 Dove Country Drive in Stafford, Fort Bend County. The development received an award of 4% Housing Tax Credits in 1999. A 2026 tax credit application was submitted on January 23, 2026, and a Certificate of Reservation was subsequently issued for the development on February 6, 2026.
Waiver request: The development consists of 250 one, two and three-bedroom units. All existing two- and three- bedroom units are two-story townhome style units. As a result, there are no accessible two and three-bedroom units currently present within the development. In an effort to remedy this issue, and as part of the proposed resyndication and rehabilitation of the property, the applicant has proposed to reconfigure a number of existing non-accessible two-bedroom townhome units to create fully accessible two and three-bedroom units. However, this reconfiguration results in the accessible two and three-bedroom units having smaller square footages than the non-accessible two and three-bedroom units, which is not allowed under the 2026 QAP.
Pursuant to 10 TAC §11.101(b)(8)(E) of the 2026 QAP;
“For all Developments other than Direct Loan Developments, for the purposes of determining the appropriate distribution of accessible Units across Unit Types, assuming all the Units have similar features only the number of Bedrooms and Full Bathrooms will be used to define the Unit Type, but accessible Units must have an equal or greater square footage than the square footage offered in the smallest non‐accessible Unit with the same number of Bedrooms and Full Bathrooms.”
According to the applicant, there are two factors affecting the square footage of the proposed non-accessible units; these factors stem from the fact that townhome units, which have atypical floorplans, are being converted. First, the square footage for the entry area and stairs is being added into the total square footage of the second-story non-accessible units, and is, in turn, being subtracted from the ground-floor accessible unit. The second factor is that all the townhouse units have a larger footprint due to overhangs that are present on the second floor. Therefore, because the proposed accessible units are keeping the existing first floor footprint, they are smaller than the second-floor non-accessible units.
Applicant notes that the proposed rehabilitation and reconfiguration of The Park at Fort Bend creates fully accessible two and three-bedroom units where there were none before.
The applicant is requesting a waiver of 10 TAC §11.101(b)(8)(E) of the 2026 QAP so that the development can be considered eligible despite the accessible two and three-bedroom units having smaller square footages than their non-accessible counterparts.
Based on the aforementioned factors associated with The Park at Fort Bend, staff believes that the inability to meet minimum size requirements for accessible units, which necessitates a waiver, is not within control of the applicant, because of existing design conditions that limit potential square footage through reconfiguration. Staff believes that granting the waiver better serves the purposes articulated in Tex. Gov’t Code §2306.001(2) by providing affordable housing to meet the needs of individuals and families and §2306.6701 by contributing to the preservation of affordable units and, therefore, recommends the waiver be granted.