Full text of Banking and Community Perspectives (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas) : Issue 3, 2012

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Banking and Community
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all

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needs

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income levels

rates

public programs

bonds

food

homeownership

analysis

poverty

building
permits

housing
tax credits

credit

rental
gap
publi units
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d

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farmworker housing

neighborhood

revitalization

Surveying transportation
im
inflation
pact
prices the Landscape:
rental housing market The Challenge of
develop
rates
Affordable Housing
ment
rural
multifamily in Texas urban
plannin
housing
interest
education

Notes from the Field:
Interview with Texas
Development Finance
Manager, p. 18

and barriers

financing

Affordable Housing Coming
to Dallas Via Transit-Oriented
Development, p. 14

D a l l a s

planning

Rural Texas Studies Identify
Housing Needs, Challenges
and Strategies, p. 12

o f

benefits

policy

Houston Taking Holistic
Approach to AffordableHousing Development, p. 6

B a n k

environmental
quality

low- to moderate-income

Texas Sees Postrecession
Turnaround in Rental
Housing Market, p. 3

Oil Boom’s Benefits and
Burdens: Worker Influx
Stresses Supply of
Affordable Housing, p. 9

Rese r v e

mortgage

F e d e r a l

retail

ISSUE 3 2012

Perspectives

Banking and
Community

Perspectives
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Community Development Office
P.O. Box 655906
Dallas, TX 75265-5906
Alfreda B. Norman
Vice President and
Community Development Officer
alfreda.norman@dal.frb.org
Wenhua Di
Senior Economist
wenhua.di@dal.frb.org
Julie Gunter
Senior Community Development Advisor
julie.gunter@dal.frb.org
Jackie Hoyer
Senior Community Development Advisor
Houston Branch
jackie.hoyer@dal.frb.org
Roy Lopez
Senior Community Development Advisor
Elizabeth Sobel Blum
Senior Community Development Research
Associate
elizabeth.sobel-blum@dal.frb.org
Emily Ryder
Community Development Analyst
emily.ryder@dal.frb.org
Tanya Ferencak
Community Development Specialist
San Antonio Branch

rental
gap
publi units
c fun
d

income levels

homeow

all
ch

ISSUE 3 2012

critical
housing
needs

% thinflation
w

public programs

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bonds

he Texas housing market has finally turned the corner after a long stagnancy and become a con-

tributing factor to the economic recovery. And yet in many areas, housing for low- and moderate-income
(LMI) households is still in short supply. This special issue of Banking and Community Perspectives looks at
the challenge of affordable housing in Texas, spotlighting underlying trends and innovative approaches to
increasing availability.
Across the state, multifamily construction has begun to rebound to meet a growing demand for rentals.
But in some communities, rents are increasing faster than mortgage costs—which reduces the stock of affordable rental housing.
In the vast rural areas of Texas, housing developers continue to encounter difficulty reaching economies
of scale with scattered sites, and this contributes to a shortage of affordable housing. Moreover, the seasonality of migrant workers poses challenges for communities trying to find shelter for farmworkers. Two studies
commissioned by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs provide recommendations to
improve housing delivery to rural residents and farmworkers.
Increased drilling activities have lifted the Permian Basin from economic recession and sent workers
flocking to oil boom towns. But development has not kept pace with demand, and housing for incoming
workers and local LMI households is scarce.
The Houston area is dealing with housing problems caused by the economic downturn and damage
from Hurricane Ike. The city of Houston is taking a holistic approach to stabilizing these neighborhoods.

Editor: Kathy Thacker
Content editor: Wenhua Di
Designers: Darcy Melton and Ellah Piña
Researchers and Writers: Elizabeth Sobel
Blum, Wenhua Di, Tanya Ferencak, Julie
Gunter, Jackie Hoyer, Roy Lopez and Emily
Ryder

The city of Dallas, meanwhile, has been using creative financing mechanisms to help overcome barriers to

December 2012
The views expressed are the authors’ and
should not be attributed to the Federal
Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal
Reserve System. Articles may be reprinted
if the source is credited and a copy is
provided to the Community Development
Department.

ties, especially in this postrecession period, but it also offers hope that much can be done to meet the housing

This publication and our webzine,
e-Perspectives, are available on the
Dallas Fed website,
www.dallasfed.org.

transit-oriented development in underserved areas.
This survey of the affordable-housing landscape reveals the complexity of the challenge facing communi-

needs of lower-income populations throughout Texas.

Alfreda B. Norman
Vice President and Community Development Officer
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Banking and Community Perspectives

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Texas Sees Postrecession Turnaround
in Rental Housing Market
By Wenhua Di

t’s not surprising that the rental
market has picked up and led the recovery from the housing crisis. Families
have lost their homes to foreclosure,
young adults uncertain about job prospects have delayed home purchases
and more people have enrolled in college and need housing. Further, many
households face challenges meeting
down payment and credit requirements
for buying homes as stringent underwriting criteria have made it more difficult to
qualify for a mortgage.
For most areas of the country, the
demand for rental housing has grown
rapidly. During 2011, the number of
renter households went up by 1 million.1
The homeownership rate has gradually
declined to 65.5 percent from the historic
high of 69.2 percent in 2004 (Figure 1).
Homeownership trends vary across Texas
metros, and the overall rate for the state
has stayed around 65 percent.
As a result of this demand for rental
housing, the national rental vacancy rate
dropped from 10.6 percent in 2009 to
9.5 percent in 2011.2 Texas’ metropolitan
areas have some of the nation’s lowest
vacancy rates. From 2006 to 2010, renteroccupied housing in Texas increased by
184,000 units, which accounts for 43 percent of all occupied housing units added. The demand has been met through
not only vacant multifamily units, but
also 91,500 additional single-family units.
The latter accounted for almost half of
total renter-occupied units added in
Texas over the four-year period.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

in 2006 to $786 in 2010, a 2 percent
increase when adjusted for inflation. In
addition, the renter’s cost distribution also
shifted to the higher end over the same
period (Figure 3). In contrast, the median
monthly housing cost for owners with a
mortgage changed little in real terms over
those years.

Since the government’s homebuyer
tax credit expired in 2010, multifamily permits and starts have rebounded
(Figure 2). The owner-occupied market is
still under pressure, partly due to a large
inventory of distressed sales. The share of
homes with negative equity was 22.5 percent in the U.S. and 9 percent in Texas as
of September 2012, suggesting a shadow
inventory that may emerge when housing
prices improve.3 Construction of singlefamily homes is not recovering as quickly
as it is for multifamily homes.
Still, the rental market has tightened
in almost all major metros in Texas,
particularly for multifamily properties that
are professionally managed.4 Rents have
gone up relative to mortgage payments
since the recession started. The median
cost to rent in Texas increased from $711

Is the Market Overbuilding?
If the number of rental units added
cannot keep up with demand, rents will
continue to rise. But in some markets,
if too many new units are delivered too
quickly, rents may drop sharply. Overall,
multifamily deliveries are still lower than
absorption. The construction activities in
Texas have not yet recovered to prerecession levels despite recent upward
trends.

Figure 1

Texas Homeownership Holding Near 65 Percent
Percent
70
69
U.S.

68
67
66
65
64

Texas

63
62
61
60

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

SOURCES: Census Bureau/Haver Analytics.

Banking and Community Perspectives

Figure 2

Multifamily Driving Uptick in Texas Residential Building Permits
Whether the multifamily sector is

Number of permits
25,000

overbuilding also depends on future
demand for rentals. In recent years,
Texas has had the largest population
and job growth among all states.

20,000

15,000

10,000

Total (five-month moving average)

5,000

Single family
Multifamily

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

SOURCE: Census Bureau/Haver Analytics.

Whether the multifamily sector is
overbuilding also depends on future demand for rentals. In recent years, Texas
has had the largest population and job
growth among the states. The demand
for both rental and owner-occupied
housing will continue to increase and
help absorb the new units produced.
Household preferences also change over
time for different demographic groups.
More higher-income or younger households embrace the idea of renting for
style and mobility.

Nationally, rentership increased from
2006 to 2011 for all age groups except
those 65 years and older.5 Texas saw a
small increase (0.8 percentage points) in
rentership in the 35-to-44 age group from
2006 to 2010. There was no observable
increase in rentership for those age 35
and younger in Texas, and there was a
decrease in rentership for those age 45
to 74.6 Some renters choose homeownership when the cost of buying compares
favorably with renting.
Another factor that can influence the

Figure 3

Upper End of Rental Market Sees Growth
Share of all occupied rental units (percent)
35
30

2006
2010

25
20
15
10
5
0

Less than
$200

$200 to
$299

$300 to
$499

$500 to
$749

$750 to
$999

$1,000 to
$1,499

$1,500
or more

SOURCE: American Community Survey.

Banking and Community Perspectives

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Table 1

Housing Cost Burdens Increase for Renters in Texas
Renter-occupied units added
Occupant income

Rent inflation is higher in the upper-end

Units with housing cost burden (percent)

Number

Percent

Renter occupied

Owner occupied

2006–10

2006

2010

2006

2010

<20k

–30,502

–3.6

20-35k

13,639

2.1

35-50k

36,735

8.5

50-75k

65,938

17.6

>75k

91,368

34.5

market, which pushes higher-income
households to seek lower-cost
alternatives. This has left a relatively
smaller number of units available for

NOTES: Occupant incomes are nominal value. Households are considered cost-burdened if they devote more than 30 percent of their
income to housing. Costs of owners without a mortgage are not included in calculation.
SOURCE: American Community Survey.

rental market is the financing of multifamily development. Fannie Mae, Freddie
Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) are still backing most new
multifamily loans. The magnitude of
government support may not be sustainable, with federal fiscal challenges looming large and the reform of governmentsponsored enterprises (GSEs) continuing.
Banks, insurance companies and private
investors remain cautious about opportunities and decisions regarding multifamily
developments given the uncertain future
of GSE and FHA guarantees.

Widening Affordable-Rental Gap
From 2006 to 2010, the number of
renter-occupied units in Texas increased
6.5 percent to 3 million. As Table 1
suggests, higher-income renters grew
disproportionally compared with other
income groups. Rent inflation is higher
in the upper-end market, which pushes
higher-income households to seek lowercost alternatives. This has left a relatively
smaller number of units available for
lower-income households.
Considering that real median household income barely increased (by only
2 percent in Texas) over the four-year
period, the discrepancy between demand
for and availability of affordable rental
units increased. For households making
less than $20,000 a year, housing options became so limited that many may
have doubled up with other families or
become homeless.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

lower-income households.

The share of renters classified as
“housing cost burdened” increased
from 2006 to 2010 at all income levels.7
For occupants with incomes between
$20,000 and $35,000, the share increased
8 percentage points to 65 percent. For
those with incomes between $35,000 and
$50,000, the share increased 7 percentage
points to 25 percent.
Meanwhile, homeownership has
become a relatively affordable option
because of low mortgage rates and price
stagnancy. The share of owners considered housing cost burdened remained
almost unchanged at all income levels
from 2006 to 2010.8 For lower-income
households, homeownership with a
fixed-interest mortgage can reduce the
impact of future rent inflation and provide opportunities to preserve assets and
build equity.
Notes
The State of the Nation’s Housing 2012, Joint Center
for Housing Studies of Harvard University, June 14,
2012, www.jchs.harvard.edu/research/publications/statenation%E2%80%99s-housing-2012.
2
See note 1.
3
The MarketPulse, CoreLogic, November 2012. Data as of
September 2012.
4
CBRE Multi-Housing Outlook with MPF Research, CBRE,
2012.
5
See note 1. Data based on JCHS tabulations of Census
Bureau Housing Vacancy Survey.
6
American Community Survey, 2006 to 2010.
7
Households that pay more than 30 percent of their income
for housing are considered cost burdened.
8
Only the costs of owners with a mortgage are included in
the calculation.
1

Banking and Community Perspectives

Houston Taking Holistic Approach
to Affordable-Housing Development
By Jackie Hoyer

n Houston, the affordable-housing
market has been affected not only by
the economic downturn, but also by the
lingering effects of Hurricane Ike. The
city must grapple with a large inventory
of blighted houses as well as persistent
tax deficiencies that stand in the way of
redevelopment.
Faced with widespread foreclosures
and neglected properties along with
dramatic decreases in federal funding,
the city of Houston adopted a holistic approach to neighborhood revitalization to
get the “most bang for the buck,” according to Neal Rackleff, director of the city’s
Housing and Community Development
Department, who spoke with the Federal
Reserve Bank of Dallas about steps the
city is taking to address the situation.
The city has found that concentrated
development is more effective over the
long term than a scattered-site approach,
so there has been a shift under the current mayoral administration to “breaking
down silos.”
Drawing on Disaster Recovery funds
from the 2008 hurricane, the city has identified Neighborhoods of Opportunity to
target. It plans to use additional resources
and economic incentives and to look at issues beyond housing, such as food deserts
and commercial opportunities.
“We think that blight remediation is
a big part of stabilizing neighborhoods,”
Rackleff emphasized, while acknowledging that funds are thin and the city
cannot eliminate all blight. Despite
geographic limitations, he said, the city
aims for its work “to be a model,” calling

it “an overall process, a holistic approach
that can be replicated in the future.”
Rackleff described several issues affecting the affordable-housing market in
Houston. Among them are the impact of
public funds, affordable-housing trends
and other types of funding sources.
Neighborhood Stabilization Program
dollars administered by the city put only
a small dent in the housing issue around
stabilizing communities, Rackleff said.
The number of blighted and neglected properties has only been exacerbated by foreclosure issues in Houston.
Over the past two years, the Housing and
Community Development Department
demolished 850 single-family homes that
were abandoned or unsafe.

Affordable Housing Trends:
Single Family
Single-family development in Houston has seen “very significant challenges,”
Rackleff said. The Housing and Community Development Department program
under the former administration (2008),
which gave deep subsidies to builders for
new affordable homes, did not survive the
downturn. A number of these homes still
in inventory have not been sold. But it
was found that homes built on contiguous
lots (“in clusters of 10 or so”) sold much
better than those built using a scatteredsite approach, Rackleff noted.
Potential homeowners are more likely
to buy in revitalized areas where they see
several new homes together, so building a

City of Houston
Disaster Recovery funds have supported affordable-housing projects including the Reserve At Creekbend in Houston.

Banking and Community Perspectives

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Potential homeowners are more likely
to buy in revitalized areas where
they see several new homes together,
so building a whole block is more
effective.

City of Houston
The Disaster Recovery multifamily allocation of $47 million went to projects such as the Villa del Prado Apartments.

whole block is more effective, he said.
Rackleff views the tightening of credit
criteria to obtain a mortgage as an obstacle to low- and moderate-income (LMI)
single-family purchases. “It is much more
difficult to get homes financed for everybody,” he said, adding that the tightening
is especially discouraging for LMI buyers.
Rackleff sees more promise in singlefamily homeownership through programs
such as Houston Habitat for Humanity, in
which flexible terms of the zero-percent

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

mortgages are set by the nonprofit organization. Noting that Houston Habitat for
Humanity recently received $1 million
from the city to construct 11 homes, Rackleff stressed that this LMI builder’s production capacity is a key to success.

Affordable Housing Trends:
Multifamily
The city’s biggest role is to bring gap
financing to make multifamily housing
work. Rackleff is also seeing developers

Banking and Community Perspectives

use Low Income Housing Tax Credits
(LIHTC) and notes they are doing deals
that are 100 percent affordable to maximize the equity from the sale of the
credits.
With these efforts and others, Rackleff said, Houston’s production of affordable multifamily housing has significantly
increased. The city has invested $141
million since 2010 on rehabilitation or
construction of 6,380 multifamily units.
Funding has come primarily from Disaster Recovery I, HOME (a U.S. Housing
and Urban Development program), Tax
Increment Reinvestment Zone Affordable
Housing, and Homeless and Housing
Bond programs.

The city is working with the Houston
Housing Authority, Houston Finance
Corporation and Local Initiatives
Support Corporation to develop a
strategy to impact communities
around rehabilitated or newly
constructed multifamily areas.

More Funding Sources
The city was awarded $60 million in
Community Development Block Grant
Disaster Recovery funds from Hurricane
Ike (Round I) through the state General
Land Office to be used for new construction and rehabilitation of units. The allo-

Neighborhoods of Opportunity for Disaster Recovery Round II
Neighborhoods of Opportunity for Disaster Recovery Round II
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Banking and Community Perspectives

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cation is $13 million for single-family and
$47 million for multifamily projects.
Funds were distributed using a threepronged approach: 1) single-family home
repair, 2) homebuyer assistance and 3)
multifamily rehabilitation. Examples of
projects that have used these funds are
the Reserve At Creekbend, HollyView
Apartments, Vista Bonita Apartments and
Villa del Prado Apartments.
Round II of the Disaster Recovery
funding is on the table in Houston, and
an agreement with the state is yet to be
worked out. The city plans to use these
funds in a more targeted way in several
inner-city Neighborhoods of Opportunity
(see highlighted areas on map).
The city is working with the Houston Housing Authority, Houston Finance
Corporation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation to develop a strategy to
impact communities around rehabilitated
or newly constructed multifamily areas.
According to Rackleff, the idea is to revitalize the entire area and stop developing
silos of improvement.
The city’s Housing and Community
Development Department is using a
request-for-proposals (RFP) approach
with local developers to leverage the
Disaster Recovery Round II funds. These
funds will be granted to the most innovative and financially viable proposals.
Hopes are that projects will access several funding sources to make “efficient
use” of the Disaster Recovery dollars,
Rackleff said.

FUQUA

City of Houston

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Oil Boom’s Benefits and Burdens:
Worker Influx Stresses Supply
of Affordable Housing
By Roy Lopez

he Permian Basin oil industry is flourishing, and the unintended
consequences of the economic infusion
have been resonating for the past several
months. Fueled by strong crude oil prices
that keep rig counts high and by technology improvements that reduce oil exploration risk, boom times are back in this part
of the state.
The Permian Basin is in West Texas,
and the heart of the region is Midland–
Odessa. The 20-county area has roughly
550,000 residents and is growing rapidly.
Since 2000, the combined populations of
Midland and Ector Counties alone have
risen by more than 40,000 to roughly
280,500, according to census figures. Median family incomes have also increased
by more than a third.1
“This region has found its catalyst
for creeping out of a recession, and once
again, the driver is found right under our
feet,” said Jill Miller of the Odessa Housing
Finance Corporation.
The impact on housing, specifically
workforce housing, has been especially
striking. City and county officials, community development groups, developers and
financial institutions are rallying to address the problems, but barriers and sheer
demand are impacting progress. People
from across the country are coming to this
employment-rich area to locate or take
work in the oil industry and are finding that
housing comes at a premium—if at all.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Inflated Prices, Scams
Word is spreading about the Permian
Basin’s boom and its enviable unemployment rate of around 3 or 4 percent.
Forbes recently ranked Odessa and
Midland first and second, respectively, on
its list of best small cities for job growth.
The energy sector is the vehicle, but multiplier effects on other local industries are
growing and stretching human resources
across the economy.
Anecdotes about housing in the region
are becoming legendary. Miller tells of unimproved rental properties that three years
ago leased for $500 a month but today are
renting for $1,500 and have waiting lists of
over eight months. Motels are at capacity and leasing for over $500 a week, and
housing scams have begun to surface.

Stories like these abound, and the
ramifications are troubling, according
to Odessa Salvation Army Lieutenant
Joe Contreras. He reports that over 50
percent of those within his facility are
working-homeless residents. “They have
jobs, but once they get to town, they
can’t find housing … and the situation
is only getting worse,” Contreras said.
The conditions have reached a critical
juncture, he said, with reports of families
living in cars and in storage units—not
for lack of income, but for lack of affordable housing.
Reports of families doubling or even
tripling up within a home are becoming more common. David Diaz, executive director of the Midland Community
Development Corporation (CDC), said

Roy Lopez
Construction can’t keep pace with demand in oil boom areas such as Odessa, Texas, leading to higher housing prices.

Banking and Community Perspectives

“It’s a two-tiered problem: I not only see
the shrinking inventory of workforce
housing at affordable prices, I see a
squeeze on traditional low- and moderate-income residents who have been
living here for years.”

that “with limited lots to build on and
strong population growth, the results are
higher-priced and unorthodox housing
solutions.”
“It’s a two-tiered problem: I not
only see the shrinking inventory of
workforce housing at affordable prices,
I see a squeeze on traditional low- and
moderate-income [LMI] residents who
have been living here for years,” said city
of Midland Community Development
Manager Sylvester Cantu. The situation
has been especially hard on LMI families, seniors and people with disabilities. Residents have seen their property
values rise, but this is creating increased
tax liabilities that place new burdens on
homeowners and, indirectly, on renters. Renters are finding long-term leases
scarce as landlords seek to increase
rental rates more often.
Meanwhile, home prices are on the
rise, with construction costs increasing
due to such factors as the aggressive
recruitment of construction workers into
oil-related businesses. “Former construction workers are out in the oil patch,
making twice as much as they used to
make, which has created quite the demand for roofers, framers, handymen and
general contractors,” noted Cantu.

More Homes Needed
According to city estimates, Midland
alone needs 5,000 single-family and multifamily units to meet today’s demand.
Private developers are responding, but,
according to Shane Louder, senior vice
president of Community National Bank,
“those units tend to target a market that
might be a bit out of reach for the average worker.”
“Our community needs affordable
multifamily workforce housing,” Louder
added. “Too much of our labor force living in hotels is unsustainable.”
Given average household income
of just over $50,000 for the counties of
Midland and Ector, the estimated home
price a family could reasonably afford

Banking and Community Perspectives

is between $127,000 and $143,000. “Our
community’s biggest need is single-family
homes priced between $80,000 and
$140,000,” noted Cantu. “With the average starting home price in Midland well
over $240,000, there is a disconnect.”
“This has been a difficult situation.
Too many residents are being priced
right out of the market,” said Michael
Marrero, assistant city manager for the
city of Odessa.
Companies realize that many Permian Basin cities are not able to meet critical housing needs, so they develop their
own temporary, self-contained units for
workers. Some have begun to establish
work camps for many of their oilfield
staff. The camps are made up of singleresident occupancy units that house between 100 and 200 people, mostly men.

Infrastructure Development Behind
Many private sector single-family
and multifamily developers are flocking to the area from Lubbock, Dallas
and Austin in hopes of meeting part of
the demand. However, housing development is increasingly delayed by the
need for sewer and wastewater systems
and roads.
“Private sector developers will be the
primary partner in meeting the housing demand,” Marrero said. “The public
sector’s role will be to annex, move the
permitting process forward, fill financing gaps and develop infrastructure to
expand the availability of developable
land.”
The city of Odessa is undertaking
$65 million in capital improvements
for water- and sewer-line extensions
throughout the city, and several new
multifamily low-income tax credit properties are under construction. In Midland, the city has been exploring density
bonuses for developers. Density-bonus
ordinances permit developers to increase
the square footage or number of units
allowed on a piece of property if they
agree to restrict the rents or sales prices

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

of a certain number of the units for lowincome or senior households.
The local banking industry also has
been trying to respond to the need for
housing. But competition is fierce, with
private equity firms and banks looking to
invest capital in this boom area.
“Our balance sheets are awash in
liquidity because of the boom—we are
always looking for opportunities,” said
Community National Bank’s Louder.
In the past, Community National
Bank partnered with Midland CDC on
land assembly in South Midland, invested
in low-income housing tax credits and
provided interim construction financing
for Midland CDC and Habitat for Humanity homes.
In the current environment, Louder
said, the bank’s efforts to address housing
needs have been held back by challenges
that include a backlogged appraisal
system.
Midland CDC has also felt the benefits and burdens of the current market.
“Our entire housing inventory is presold.
Our largest obstacle is finding available
lots at reasonable prices,” said Diaz,
noting that the CDC’s homes sell for an

average of $119,000, up $10,000 in one
year. “However, the saving grace for our
families has been historically low interest
rates.”

Seeking Sustainable Solutions
The Permian Basin region is playing
catch-up with housing as need far outpaces supply. The dynamics are evolving,
but public and private partnerships are
working to create sustainable solutions
that address some of the demand. However, obstacles such as rising land prices
and construction and utility costs threaten
affordability. Other looming threats
include mounting tax burdens to pay for
infrastructure and schools.
Even with numerous barriers to overcome, the Permian Basin in many ways is
well-positioned to manage growth. The
area has become accustomed to boomand-bust cycles. Banks and housing entities are cautious about overinflating the
market. They learned that lesson the hard
way in the 1980s when the area was left
with a glut of housing after the bust.
Diaz said other areas of the state,
notably the Eagle Ford Shale region, are
struggling with similar housing shortages

and are looking to the Permian Basin for
leadership on solutions. “We have been
through this before,” he said. “We will
roll up our sleeves and make affordable
housing the area’s top priority again—
it’s time.”
Note
“Three Decades After Oil Bust, Permian Basin Booms
Again,” by John MacCormack, San Antonio Express-News,
Aug. 12, 2012.
1

Workers attracted to plentiful jobs in the Permian Basin often can’t find affordable housing and must turn to motels such as this one in Odessa, Texas.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Roy Lopez

Banking and Community Perspectives

Rural Texas Studies Identify Housing
Needs, Challenges and Strategies
By Roy Lopez and Tanya Ferencak

n 2010, the Texas Department of
Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) formed the Rural Housing Workgroup to better understand the housing
challenges faced by rural populations.
Based on input from the Texas Legislature as well as the workgroup, TDHCA
enlisted Bowen National Research to
conduct both the Texas Statewide Rural
Housing Analysis and the Texas Farmworker Housing Analysis.1
Bowen National Research studied
demographic shifts, assessed current
housing needs and recommended policy
adjustments to more effectively deliver
affordable housing to both rural and
farmworker populations.

30 percent of area median household
income (AMHI) and that for-sale housing gaps are largest among those with
incomes between 31 percent and 80
percent of AMHI.
The Bowen survey projected the gap
in affordable rental housing for Texas’ rural
communities to be 85,215 units by 2015.
This number represents the units that will
be occupied by households that are rent
burdened or living in overcrowded or
substandard housing, and new households
that will be added to the market and require rental housing by 2015. Not surprisingly, the highest need for rental housing
in rural areas was found to be among the
poorest residents. The survey indicates that
half of those units, or 45,269, are needed

for households with incomes at or below
30 percent of AMHI.
The report details key barriers to
affordable-housing development, including rehabilitation of existing single-family
homes.
Income constraints, influenced by seniors and others who may be on fixed incomes, were identified as a major hurdle.
These populations are found disproportionally in rural Texas. Median household
income in rural Texas (projected to be
$49,724 in 2015) is expected to be about
34 percent lower than in urban Texas.
With higher poverty rates than in urban
Texas, rural Texas often has affordability
challenges, even in areas with lower costs
of living.

Statewide Rural Housing Analysis
The Texas Statewide Rural Housing
Analysis used the U.S. Office of Management and Budget definition of rural
counties as “non-MSA,” or those that do
not represent metropolitan statistical
areas. Findings suggest that affordable
housing remains a pressing need in the
177 Texas counties identified as rural,
despite only modest population growth
in those areas of the state.
Pointing to estimated rural Texas
population growth of 1.3 percent to
just over 3 million from 2010 to 2015,
the study concludes that much of the
housing demand can be met through
“replacement, renovations and modifications of the existing housing stock.”
While all low-income segments have
significant housing needs, the report
notes that rental housing gaps are largest
among households with income below

Roy Lopez

Much of the demand for rural housing can be met by replacement, renovations and modifications of existing housing
stock, such as this home in Elsa, Texas.

Banking and Community Perspectives

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Another impediment to affordablehousing development is the difficulty of
making small, affordable rental-housing
projects financially feasible. It becomes
difficult to reach economies of scale in
small population centers. Deep subsidies
are needed because multifamily developments are hard to finance without proper
cash flow to service the debt. Given
cutbacks within many state and federal
subsidy programs, gap-financing subsidies
are increasingly difficult to attain for many
rural communities and developers.
In addition, a lack of staff capacity at
the local level and greater program complexities are making housing development
increasingly unachievable in rural Texas.
Developer Mark Mayfield, chief executive
officer of the Texas Housing Foundation,
said that “sometimes the learning curve
needed to develop affordable housing
is too steep, and communities shy away
from it.”
Despite many barriers, housing
development has taken place throughout
rural parts of the state. The Bowen study
identified 42,307 affordable multifamilyhousing units in the 177 counties, plus
an additional 12,121 Housing Choice
Vouchers in use.2 According to affordablehousing providers in the study, the overall
occupancy rate for their units has been
consistently at or near 97 percent, which
suggests slow turnover and a high need
for subsidized units.
“It is evident that there remains a
continued need for affordable housing in
rural Texas and the support of the programs that help maintain and create such
housing,” the analysis concludes.
The report makes a number of recommendations to improve the affordablehousing-delivery system in Texas, including: 1) modifying the low-income housing
tax credit (LIHTC) program to give more
consideration to rural developments, 2)
providing more marketing and education for first-time homebuyer programs in
rural markets, 3) stepping up community
outreach efforts to educate local financial

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

institutions about the existing products
and the need for housing and 4) creating
regional rural-housing resource centers
throughout Texas that would increase development capacity among nonprofits, private developers, housing authorities, local
municipalities and councils of government.

Texas Farmworker Housing Analysis
Many of the financial barriers faced
by rural residents also impede farmworkers. The Texas Farmworker Housing
Analysis projects a gap for rural farmworker housing units of 28,531 units
by 2015. This represents the number of
farmworkers who will not be housed in
farmworker-designated housing yet will
still have a need for safe and sanitary affordable housing. In the analysis, 49 rural
counties were evaluated as farmworker
counties. These rural counties contained more than 1,000 migrant/seasonal
farmworkers in an enumeration survey
completed in 2000.
Farmworker housing can be provided on farm, by the grower or off farm.
Off-farm housing can include U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-financed
migrant-labor housing facilities, conventional/affordable apartments, colonias,
hotels, recreational vehicles or even tents.
Like the agricultural work, the housing
tends to be seasonal or temporary.
“This seasonal nature makes it difficult for farmworkers to secure safe and
affordable housing outside of designated
migrant-labor housing facilities,” said
Kathy Tyler, housing services director at
Motivation Education and Training. “The
seasonal nature also makes it difficult to
finance development.”
The irony is that despite great
seasonal demand, many USDA housing
facilities throughout the state are struggling to stay solvent because they are
vacant for large portions of the year.
This disrupts cash flow. An estimated 90
percent of all farmworkers in Texas earn
less than $30,000 a year, with over 47 percent of those earning $10,000 to $19,999.

With wages low, it is not surprising that
farmworkers occupy some of the worst
housing in the state. Tyler said most
affordable-housing programs address the
needs of workers making between 50
percent and 80 percent AMHI. “There is a
disconnect, when most farmworkers are
well below 30 percent of AMHI,” added
Tyler.
The study makes several recommendations to spur and streamline farmworker
housing development, including: 1) clarifying farmworker housing-facility requirements, 2) raising development requirements so that famworker housing projects
can be eligible for LIHTCs, 3) establishing
a predevelopment loan program and 4)
establishing a rental operating-subsidy
program that can mitigate the risks associated with fluctuating occupancies.

Beyond the Studies
As the rural and agricultural landscapes change technologically, economically, socially and demographically, the
need for housing to serve these populations has never been more pressing,
according to the TDHCA/Bowen analyses. The two studies offer a baseline for
affordable-housing demand and identify
obstacles that make development difficult
in rural areas. The challenge, according
to Kate Moore, policy adviser at TDHCA,
will be to identify how to use these
studies to adjust programs to meet the
significant affordable-housing needs of
rural and urban Texas.
Notes
See Bowen National Research for details on the two
research studies, dated September 2012, at www.tdhca.state.
tx.us/housing-center/docs/12-Rural-Farm-Analysis-Rural.pdf
and www.tdhca.state.tx.us/housing-center/docs/12-RuralFarm-Analysis-Farmworker.pdf.
2
The Housing Choice Voucher program is the federal government’s chief program to help very-low-income families, the
elderly and the disabled afford decent, safe and sanitary
housing in the private market. Because housing assistance
is provided on behalf of the family or individual, participants
are able to find their own housing, including single-family
homes, townhouses and apartments.
1

Banking and Community Perspectives

Affordable Housing Coming to Dallas
Via Transit-Oriented Development
By Emily Ryder

ransit connects individuals with
employment, education and resources
such as food, retail and financial establishments. Accordingly, access to
transportation is fundamentally important to working households, particularly
those in lower- to middle-income (LMI)
brackets.
With commute times growing and
gasoline prices rising, policy and planning have the potential to shape social
and economic opportunity within cities
across the nation (see Box 1). Sustainable, innovative and inclusive planning
is increasingly crucial. One particularly impactful method used to develop
communities in Texas and elsewhere is
transit-oriented development (TOD).
A TOD is generally defined as a
high-density, mixed-use development
around which public transit is accessible within less than half a mile. The
benefits of this type of urban planning
are well-documented. In general, TOD
projects have the ability to improve
employment, health, financial security,
economic development and environmental quality.1
The benefits can be even greater for
LMI families, which are often more dependent on public transportation access
and less likely to own a car. More than
40 percent of future demand for housing
near transportation will come from LMI
households, according to estimates by
the Center for Transit Oriented Development.2

Box 1: Transportation Costs Often a Burden for Lower-Income Families
Transportation costs are typically the second-highest expense for American households, right behind
the cost of housing.1 There has always been a trade-off between proximity to job opportunities and a lower
cost of living. For low- to moderate-income (LMI) families in search of affordable housing, this trade-off
represents more than an inconvenience; it can be an insurmountable barrier to employment and economic
stability.
The share of U.S. workers with long commutes has climbed again after reversing course during the
recent recession (see figure). Gas prices, meanwhile, have been on a steady upward path. Both are making it
difficult for LMI households to live on the outskirts of metropolitan areas.
Although the average family spends approximately 19 percent of household income on transportation
costs, those with access to public transit spend only 9 percent.2 For LMI families, this difference represents
a significant reduction of their household burdens.
Notes

1
“Preserving Opportunities: Saving Affordable Homes Near Transit,” Center for Transit-Oriented Development,
www.ctod.org/portal/node/2182.
2
See note 1.

Share of Workers Commuting More than 45 Minutes to Work Climbs
Percent

1
Great Recession
0
2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

SOURCES: American Community Service; Census Bureau.

Lancaster Urban Village: Vision,
Plan and Financing
Although modern concepts of
TOD projects date back more than
two decades, they have often failed to
incorporate affordable housing, and this
oversight has left LMI families behind.3

Banking and Community Perspectives

Indeed, Dallas TODs such as Mockingbird Station and the West Village
have been built around higher-income
communities and feature high-end retail
shops and residential lofts that are unaffordable for most LMI households.4 However, that is about to change in Dallas.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Lancaster Urban Village, which
broke ground in March of this year,
expects to open its first residential units
in early 2013. The development, located
in a southern Dallas census tract with
median household income of $23,500
and 18.4 percent unemployment, puts
affordable housing and workforce development at the heart of its mission and
vision.5 The Lancaster initiative is mindful
and inclusive of the demographics of its
neighborhood. About 59 percent of the
residents in the TOD’s census tract are
black, and 40 percent are Latino. The
poverty rate is 41 percent, nearly three
times the national average.6
This 3.5-acre development will include 193 residential units, 14,000 square
feet of office and retail space, and an expansion of the Urban League of Greater
Dallas and North Central Texas to include space for trade-skill and workforce
development classes. More than half of
the apartments will have income restrictions, keeping the units affordable to LMI
individuals and families. Mixing affordable units with those that are market rate
will also reduce income segregation and
may improve economic mobility.
The future site of Lancaster Urban
Village is a formerly undeveloped area
near Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)
light-rail stations in what is known as
the Lancaster Corridor. The stations service the VA Medical Center, Lancaster-Kiest Shopping Center, Paul Quinn College
and Cedar Valley College.
While the northern Dallas region has
enjoyed strong economic development,
southern Dallas has not. Although 45
percent of Dallas’ population is south of
the Trinity River, this area represents only
15 percent of the total tax base.7 The development neighborhood along Lancaster
Road was a high-crime area with rundown, dilapidated buildings. Thanks to
community leaders, these buildings have
been knocked down over the past two
years, paving the way for reinvestment
and revitalization.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Financing this type of TOD in a lowincome area with multiple purposes—
retail, residential and office—presents
challenges. Yet the city of Dallas was
able to creatively harness various funding
methods to make the concept a reality.
The groundwork for the project
began in 2008 when the Dallas Office
of Economic Development created the
TOD Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
District, spanning from North Dallas to
the Lancaster Corridor (see Box 2). This
TIF district consists of four subdistricts,
one of which is Mockingbird Station, along with three less-developed
regions, including Lancaster Corridor
(see map, page 16). The strength of
this type of TOD TIF project lies in
its funding structure—an incrementsharing arrangement in which some
projected revenue increases are passed
from the higher-income subdistricts to
lower-income ones. In this way, the
TIF incremental revenue generated
in the Mockingbird station area not
only funds its TIF incentives, but also
subsidizes development in the southern
subdistricts.
A requirement for development
of mixed-income housing in all TIFfinanced projects ensures that affordable
housing will be an integral component
of each development. TIF districts are

Although modern concepts of transitoriented development projects date back
more than two decades, they have often
failed to incorporate affordable housing,
and this oversight has left lower- and
middle-income families behind.

Box 2: TIF Districts and TODs
Tax-increment financing (TIF) is a public
financing method often used by cities to
subsidize new private investment in targeted
areas. TIFs use the projected increase in tax
revenue that will be generated by a public
improvement project to finance the debts
incurred to pay for the project.
TIF districts are designated areas in which
future gains in tax revenue can generate a source
of funding for community improvements. In
2007, the city of Dallas amended local TIF laws
to create special categories for transit-oriented
developments (TODs), making it easier to
combine TIFs and TODs.
For more information on TIFs in Dallas, see
www.dallas-ecodev.org/incentives/tifs-pids.

Banking and Community Perspectives

The groundwork for the Lancaster Urban
Village began in 2008 when the Dallas
Office of Economic Development created
the TOD Tax Increment Financing
District, spanning from North Dallas
to the Lancaster Corridor.

not always transportation related, but in
this case, the city of Dallas combined the
two. This shared-increment area, running north to south along the transit line,
allows the higher growth in North Dallas
to fund the southern sector, too.
Because TIF funds are generated
by future increases in property values,
the funds are typically not available as
a source of project financing; rather,
they are used to back loans—in this
case, Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) Section 108 loans. This type of
loan is guaranteed by the government
and funds a large portion of Lancaster
Urban Village. Additional financing is
needed to fund the rest of the project,
with sources including HUD Section
221(d)(4) loans, the New Markets Tax
Credit Program and public–private
partnerships (see Box 3). TIF funds are
not backed by the full faith and credit
of the city. They are contingent liabili-

ties, backed solely by the TIF revenue
stream, if and when it develops.

Benefits and Barriers
With positive returns seen in areas
of health, environment and economic
development, TODs have the power
to reshape a community. However,
funding new TOD projects can be a
challenge. Sufficient demand in multiple markets at once—retail, residential
and office—is required for mixed-use
development but is often not present. This concern is particularly salient
in lower-income or unproven market
areas, where investors may be more
concerned about risk.
According to lessons learned by the
city of Dallas, securing outside sources
of funding such as Low Income Housing
Tax Credits and New Markets Tax Credits
may be necessary to overcome these
possible shortfalls.8

Mockingbird
Station

Lancaster Corridor

Banking and Community Perspectives

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Box 3: Sources of Lancaster Funding
Lancaster Urban Village benefits from increment-sharing across the TIF district, which provides backing
for loans. The project’s financing comes from several sources:
• HUD Section 108: Federally guaranteed loan for the purpose of economic development, housing
rehabilitation or construction benefiting low- and moderate-income persons. See: http://portal.hud.gov/
hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/comm_planning/
communitydevelopment/programs/108.
• HUD Section 221(d)(4): Insures mortgage loans against losses for multifamily residential units; used to
foster affordable housing development. See: www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/mfh/progdesc/sro221d3n4.cfm.
• New Markets Tax Credit Program: Designed to attract investment capital to low-income communities by
giving investors a tax credit in exchange for making equity investments in community development entities. See: http://cdfifund.gov/what_we_do/programs_id.asp?programID=5.

With positive returns seen in areas of
health, environment and economic
development, transit-oriented
developments have the power to
reshape a community.

Lancaster
Urban Village

HUD
Section 108
loan

HUD 221(d)(4)
construction
loan

Public-private
partnership
funds

New Market
Tax Credits

TIF

The potential is great for Lancaster
Urban Village to spur economic growth
in the region. The development’s close
proximity to the VA Medical Center will
appeal to the hospital’s employees. And
its new commercial space and retail will
be a draw for the more than 30,000 annual visitors to the hospital area.
Said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings:
“This Lancaster Corridor is going to be in
the next decade one of the most vibrant
corridors in the city of Dallas. Mark my
words.”9

“Histories of Transit-Oriented Development: Perspectives
on the Development of the TOD Concept,” by Ian Carlton,
Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of
California, Berkeley, Fall 2007.
4
City of Dallas Economic Development, www.dallas-ecodev.
org/redevelopment/tod.
5
American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, 2010.
6
See note 5.
7
“Grow South,” by Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, city of Dallas presentation, www.dallascityhall.com/government/mayor/
pdf/GrowSouth.pdf.
8
“Transit-Oriented Tax Increment Financing: Using Tax Increment Financing in Dallas,” by Karl Studdins, Dallas Office of
Economic Development, Aug. 30, 2012.
9
“Onward with Lancaster Urban Village,” by Roy Appleton,
Dallas Morning News, March 29, 2012.
3

Notes
Denver Regional Council of Governments, http://tod.drcog.
org/what-are-benefits-tod, and Center for Transit-Oriented
Development, www.mitod.org/whatisTOD.php.
2
“Planning for TOD at the Regional Scale: The Big Picture,”
Center for Transit-Oriented Development, Aug. 1, 2011,
http://reconnectingamerica.org/resource-center/booksand-reports/2011/ctod-guidebook-explores-importance-ofplanning-for-tod-at-regional-scale.
1

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Banking and Community Perspectives

Notes from the Field: Interview with Texas
Development Finance Manager

Development] supports this option because tenants
can move to where the better schools and jobs are.

he Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
recently interviewed David Danenfelzer, manager of
development finance at the Texas State Affordable
Housing Corporation (TSAHC), a nonprofit
organization established by the state of Texas in
1994 to serve the housing needs of low-income
families and other underserved populations in
Texas. TSAHC’s programs support sustainable
homeownership, affordable housing development
and foreclosure prevention programs statewide.
Danenfelzer provided insights into housing trends
in Texas with a focus on low- and moderate-income
(LMI) households.
Q: What types of funding and financing
are being used to maintain or increase the
supply of rental housing for LMI households?
A: Tax credits, bonds and—a distant third—
government funding.
Tax credits are still king because of what they
bring to the table. Low-income housing tax credits
(LIHTCs) and other tax credits are trending up in
value and attracting more investor interest.
However, we are starting to see that many
properties originally financed with LIHTCs have
met their 15-year affordability requirement. While
some nonprofit developers are trying to maintain
affordability after the 15-year requirement, a large
number of for-profits are opting out. Under state
and federal rules, they must market the properties
to nonprofits first, but if there are no buyers,
then the properties can be sold to any new owner
without continuing the affordability restrictions on
the property.
Now let’s look at bonds. An interesting
challenge right now is that the relationship between
taxable and tax-exempt debt is not what it normally
has been. Taxable yields currently are lower than
tax-exempt yields, even though the latter’s original

Q: Are community development corporations (CDCs) and other nonprofits building
rental housing for LMI households?

David Danenfelzer

purpose was for investors to earn less interest
in exchange for not paying tax on that interest.
Taxable bonds are also less expensive to issue—
because of regulatory and legal factors—than
tax-exempt bonds. This upside-down situation has
caused considerable disruption in the use of bond
financing for affordable rental housing.
Q: What is the trend in vouchers used
for single-family and multifamily rental
housing?
A: One trend we’ve seen over the last eight
to 10 years is programs that enable tenants who
hold vouchers to buy homes. Those programs,
offered by many local public housing authorities,
have slowed down over the last couple of years
but will probably go back up with the housing and
mortgage markets and as more voucher holders
develop the ability to maintain homeownership on
their own.
A lot of public housing agencies are using
tenant-based rental vouchers. Renters receive a
voucher for a portion of the market rent that can
be used at any property that accepts vouchers.
HUD [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban

Banking and Community Perspectives

A: The CDC share of new housing units has
remained relatively stable. Access to federal or
state subsidies is now more limited. Many CDCs
have slowed down a little or decreased their growth
goals, just like for-profit developers. But the more
successful CDCs have maintained a steady flow of
new units and projects. Some examples are :
• Central Texas: Foundation Communities has continued to produce LMI and extremely-low-income
housing over the past five to six years. The group
just completed M Station, a 133-unit apartment
complex in central East Austin, and is planning
another next year. Texas Housing Foundation has
been active even during the economic downturn in
smaller markets. It may not be doing as much as
before, but it has been active and done an amazing
job in managing its existing portfolio.
• Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area: Tarrant
County Housing Partnership, Citywide CDC and
Builders of Hope have all continued to stay active,
especially in their response to foreclosures and
acquisition/rehabilitation development.
• Houston: Covenant Community Capital and
New Hope Housing, which does single-residentoccupancy facilities for extremely-low-income
residents, have both been very active in the
Houston market.
• The Valley: Affordable Homes of South Texas and
CDC of Brownsville, which historically have been
the main single-family developers in Hidalgo
and Cameron Counties, respectively, are seeking
to enter the multifamily rental market and are
rebounding in single-family production as well.
• El Paso: Tierra Del Sol, which is based in New
Mexico and works a lot in El Paso, and El Paso

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Collaborative are both busy and looking for new
deals.
• Across Texas: Cesar Chavez Foundation, which is
based in California, works in Texas a lot and has
been recapitalizing properties.
• National nonprofits that have invested in Texas:
Rainbow Housing, which is based in San Francisco, has bought many existing affordable properties; American Opportunities Foundation, which
is based in Atlanta, has increased its portfolio in
Texas; Neighborhood Development Corporation
has stabilized existing properties over the last
couple of years by putting capital improvements
in properties to maintain them or make them more
attractive to new investors.
Q: Who are the investors in rental housing for LMI households and has the number
of investors changed?
A: There are three investment groups:
the government, banks and private investors.
Government investing has tapered off. Government
entities don’t provide subsidies as large as they
used to in order to spread funding around to more
units or projects, but these subsidies have less
impact as construction costs increase each year.
Banks have been very restrictive in lending, but
private investors are coming back.
Q: How would you describe homeownership trends in Texas?
A: We’ve seen a gradual step back from
homeownership as a first choice or option for
most households over the past few years, largely
due to tighter credit conditions. For example, the
minimum credit score for a mortgage applicant has
gone from 580 to 640. People who lost their jobs
even temporarily could hurt their credit scores by
not paying their bills in full and on time, and may
find they can’t access new credit.
A second obstacle to homeownership is the
down payment required for a mortgage loan.
Potential homeowners are having a hard time
saving the 10 to 20 percent down payment for
a conventional loan, or perhaps even the 3.5
percent required for an FHA [Federal Housing
Administration] loan. Some down-payment
assistance programs are available. Our programs
offer a 5 percent grant toward down payment and

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

closing costs to borrowers qualifying under our
Professional Educators, Texas Heroes and Home
Sweet Texas Home Loan programs.
We are seeing increases in home sales in some
markets, such as Austin, Dallas and Houston.
There is a lot of activity compared to the last three
to four years in these markets. There has also
been a real upturn in smaller-market areas that
have been strongly impacted by the oil, gas and
wind industries. There are very large investments
in these energy resources across our state, from

Victoria to the border along the Interstate Highway
77 corridor. For example, the Eagle Ford Shale is
about 80 miles outside of San Antonio, and we are
seeing a high demand for housing there because of
the number of good-paying jobs.
—Elizabeth Sobel Blum and Julie Gunter

The Texas State Affordable Housing
Corporation (TSAHC) has created a virtual
toolbox for consumers who are considering
homeownership. Its Texas Financial Toolbox
is a searchable database for consumer
resources including financial education and
credit counseling, homebuyer education,
foreclosure-prevention counseling and
homeownership programs such as downpayment assistance.
When creating the website, TSAHC
invited municipalities and nonprofit
organizations offering any of these
homeownership services to post their
programs, classes and other services directly
to the database. For example, when searching
for homebuyer education services in Dallas,
a list is provided that includes Business
and Community Lenders of Texas, the city
of McKinney, the Dallas County Home Loan
Counseling Center and the Urban League of
Greater Dallas. A Texas Mortgage Calculator
tool is included in the toolbox to help
potential homebuyers establish a price range
for an affordable mortgage.
For information on listing in the
toolbox, representatives of homeownership
organizations may contact Paige Omohundro
at TSAHC, pomohundro@tsahc.org, or
submit their program information directly at
www.texasfinancialtoolbox.com.

Banking and Community Perspectives

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Full text of Banking and Community Perspectives (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas) : Issue 3, 2012

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