A Message from TAAHP's Government Affairs Committee Chairman

By Nathan Kelley, Government Affairs Committee Chair (2022-2023)

A Strong Texas Begins with a Stable Home and Texas has long prided itself as an affordable place to call home. Housing affordability has positioned Texas as one of the top states in the country for new job creation. The prospect of housing affordability continues to motivate folks to pick up roots and replant them here in search of new and greater opportunities. It’s been quoted countless times, but over the 2010-2020 period, roughly 1,000 people moved to Texas EVERY DAY. With that significant of a swell in population comes strains on infrastructure, housing supply, and overall affordability. It was made clear how prominent a role housing affordability would play in the 88th legislative session when the interim hearings of both House and Senate committees devoted time and focus to the topic. For this reason, TAAHP placed a greater emphasis on pre-session strategy, advocacy, and relationship building ahead of the 88th Legislative Session, which ultimately yielded many positive results.

The Government Affairs/Legislative Advisory (GALA) committee invested a substantial amount of time over the interim session developing a comprehensive list of legislative priorities, drafting proposed legislation, and identifying Housing Champions to carry our message to the Texas Legislature. In the end, our priorities were distilled into 1) crafting a new State Housing Tax Credit program, 2) saving the Public Facility Corporation (PFC) development tool, 3) improving the efficiency of the 4% Housing Tax Credit/Private Activity Bond program, and 4) modernizing the Housing Tax Credit program statute.

Aided by our lobby team, Andrade-Van De Putte and Associates (AVDP), the GALA team set out to make a big impact on the 88th by introducing five pieces of legislation. Advocating for such a robust agenda required a significant amount of legwork and support from our lobby team, GALA committee, TAAHP staff and membership. There were hours spent on planning calls, hosting housing workshops for Freshman legislators and their staff, holding one-on-one meetings with legislators and staff, testifying before House and Senate committee meetings, and participating in the final bill/deal-making process. All this energy advanced TAAHP’s position as THE voice for housing affordability matters in the State of Texas.

In the end, TAAHP supported bills that successfully passed, including: 1) HB 1058, a landmark State Housing Tax Credit bill, 2) HB 2071, a sweeping PFC reform bill, 3) HB 1766, a private activity bond program improvement bill and 4) HB 4550, a housing tax credit program improvement bill. In addition to those successfully passed bills, we were able to combat several anti-affordable housing bills that would have been detrimental to the Housing Tax Credit program’s ability to put units on the ground where they are needed most.

These victories were not accomplished in a vacuum. They took focused effort by our organization, in concert with others including the Houston Region Business Coalition (HRBC), the Texas Apartment Association (TAA), the Texas Association of Builders (TAB), Rural Rental Housing (RRH), Texas Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (TALHFA) and the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (TXNAHRO). If not for our organizations consolidating our strength and advocating as one voice, our successes would have been muted.

Further, TAAHP and the GALA committee owe a debt of thanks to the TAAHP staff; Roger, Whitney, and Naomi, as well as the AVDP team, and the lobby teams of our industry friends that helped to shepherd these bills through to successful passage. Additional thanks to Governor Abbott’s team, including Catarina Gonzales, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dade Phelan, and their staff, along with Chairman Lozano and the members of the House Urban Affairs Committee and Chairman Bettencourt, and members of the Senate Local Government committee for giving our issues a venue to be elevated and heard. Lastly, I would like to thank Representatives Goldman, Jetton, Darby, Cunningham, Cortez, and Gervin-Hawkins, plus Senators Perry, Bettencourt, Parker, Alvarado, and Menendez for their willingness to carry these bills and tirelessly champion our priorities as their own.