The Texas House overwhelmingly passed a limited reform bill that prohibits Housing Finance Corporations (HFC) from awarding 100 percent tax exemptions to properties outside of their jurisdictions, but a bill carrying additional reforms remains pending in the House Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs.
Under the Texas Local Government Code, HFCs may grant apartment owners and developers the tax exemptions in exchange for setting aside some units for “affordable housing,” but critics say the program has done little to add more reduced-rent dwellings and, in some cases, allows the owners to actually increase rents.
