Despite my best of intentions I’m doing a lousy job with blogging the past two weeks. My excuse once again is the Texas Legislature.
There’s only seven weeks to go till the end of the legislative session and there’s still a lot of important housing legislation pending. We have particular hopes that there will be a major increase in funding for the Texas Housing Trust Fund.
There is support within the legislature for providing additional funding for affordable housing. Bills proposing to fund a trust fund with a dedicated $10 filing fee are still alive. Activity has recently extended to a proposal by Senator Eddie Lucio to issue general obligation bonds to fund a housing trust fund. The House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees have both already acted to increase funding. Housing Texas is working hard on this issue.
A huge omnibus rural housing bill has cleared the Senate committee and is headed toward a vote before the full Senate. This next week will see legislation to provide some consumer protections to homeowners facing foreclosure gain hearings at the committee levels.
All of this activity translates into heavy demands on our time. Bear with us as we continue to do the best we can to keep the blog updated.
