Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs - Building Homes and Strengthening Communities
 

Compliance - Emergency Housing Relief Provisions Information

Revenue Procedure 2007-54 (PDF)

Definition of Emergency Housing Relief: Temporary emergency housing provided after a major disaster to displaced low-income individuals that were living within the Agency’s jurisdiction at the time of the major disaster.

Under the above Revenue Procedure, Owners & Housing Credit Agencies are required to do the following:

  1. After the President issues a major disaster declaration of an affected area and FEMA publishes a notice in the Federal Register, Owners wishing to participate in providing temporary housing to low-income individuals that were living within the Agency’s jurisdiction at the time of the major disaster must obtain written approval from the Housing Credit Agency using the Owner’s Certification of Temporary Housing form below.
  2. Once the Housing Credit Agency has approved the Owner’s request to participate, temporary housing can be provided to low-income individuals for up to 4 months from the date of the President’s disaster declaration.
  3. During the 4 months temporary housing is provided by the Owner, the Housing Credit Agency will suspend the following Housing Tax Credit requirements:
    1. The non-transient use requirement: Owners are encouraged to complete short-term leases with displaced households or add lease addendums to regular leases that will specify the terms of the temporary occupancy and explain the process for initial certification if the household wishes to apply for permanent housing after the temporary residency expires.
    2. Income documentation & verification requirements: While Owners must collect self-certifications of income eligibility from displaced households, documentation of income is not required during the temporary housing period.
    3. Compliance monitoring relief: During the temporary housing period, Owners will not be unduly penalized for housing displaced households as a result of a Presidential declaration of disaster. Properties will not suffer a reduction in qualified basis or receive findings for not satisfying minimum set-aside requirements or non-transient use requirements as a result of waiving regular tax credit requirements for the emergency housing relief effort during the 4 month period.
  4. The Owner must collect the following information using the Displaced Household Certification form below:
    1. Names of all members of the household
    2. Social security numbers of all members of the household
    3. Self-certification of household income eligibility below the property’s applicable income limits at the beginning of tenancy
    4. Self-certification that household was displaced from a principal place of residence as a result of the Presidentially declared disaster
    5. Address of the damaged residence within the Agency’s jurisdiction
    6. The dates the household began and ended their temporary occupancy
  5. The Owner must rent units at rates that do not exceed the existing rent-restricted rent under the tax credit program.
  6. The Owner must not evict or terminate existing tenants in occupied low-income units as a result of efforts to provide temporary housing for displaced individuals.
  7. The Housing Credit Agency and the Owner will treat the unit status of any unit occupied temporarily by a displaced household the same as the unit’s status prior to the temporary housing placement (i.e., a low-income unit that was vacant will continue to be treated as a vacant low-income unit even if it houses a displaced individual, a market rate unit that was vacant will continue to be treated as a vacant market rate unit even it if houses a displaced individual, and a unit that was never occupied will continue to be treated as a unit that was not previously occupied even if it houses a displaced individual).
  8. At the end of the 4 month period, the Owner must submit to the Housing Credit Agency a list of the names of the displaced individuals and the dates the displaced individuals began and ceased temporary occupancy. The Owner may elect to use the Temporary Housing Report form below when reporting the information to the Housing Credit Agency.
  9. The Owner must fully re-certify any household wishing to remain in a unit after the deadline for the temporary housing period passes. All applicable Section 42 requirements will apply in determining the household’s eligibility.
  10. The Housing Credit Agency will report on Form(s) 8823 any displaced household remaining in the development that is not properly re-certified after the 4 month emergency housing period under a finding of 11a “Household Income Above Income Limit upon Initial Occupancy”.

Forms

For more information, contact Meg Tynan at (512) 475-0697 or email: meg.tynan@tdhca.state.tx.us.