From the Houston Chronicle: Houston Housing Authority moves forward with 13 mixed-income housing developments

A look at housing authority - specifically policies designed to make housing affordable. Sounds easy enough, but conflict exists over how to do so. And who is to say what "affordable" means?

- Click here for the article. 

The Houston Housing Authority board voted this week to move forward with 13 new mixed-income housing developments. The projects use what are known as public facility corporations, which take properties off the tax roll if developers make some units affordable.

The proposed mixed-income housing developments involve both the acquisition of currently existing apartment buildings and new construction, and the sites are spread throughout Houston, Cypress and Spring.

. . . Public facility corporations are the product of the 2015 Texas legislative session. Republican Sen. Craig Estes of Wichita Falls added language to a finance statute allowing developers to receive a 100 percent property tax break in exchange. Since then they have drawn criticism for poorly defining affordability, a loophole that has been exploited by some developers whose rates on “affordable” units matched the rents for their market-rate units.

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- Houston Housing Authority.

- Harris County Housing Authority.

- HUD: Houston Housing Authority.

- City of Houston: Housing and Community Development Department.

- Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

- Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet.

- Texas Housing Assistance.

- Civil Rights Act of 1968.

- 7 CFR § 1901.203 - Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

- HISTORY OF FAIR HOUSING.

- LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE: CHAPTER 303. PUBLIC FACILITY CORPORATIONS.

- Public Facility Corporations and the Section 303.042(f) Tax Break for Apartment Developments.