CHAPTER 393. HOUSING COOPERATION AMONG MUNICIPALITIES, COUNTIES, AND CERTAIN OTHER LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE
TITLE 12. PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
SUBTITLE C. PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PROVISIONS APPLYING TO MORE
THAN ONE TYPE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER 393. HOUSING COOPERATION AMONG MUNICIPALITIES, COUNTIES,
AND CERTAIN OTHER LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
Sec. 393.001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the
Housing Cooperation Law.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 393.002. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS; PURPOSE. (a) The
legislature has found in the Housing Authorities Law (Chapter
392) that:
(1) unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions exist in this state
for persons of low income;
(2) there is a shortage of safe and sanitary dwellings for those
persons;
(3) those conditions require excessive and disproportionate
expenditures of public funds for crime prevention and punishment,
public health and safety, fire and accident protection, and other
public services and facilities; and
(4) the public interest requires the remedying of those
conditions.
(b) The legislature finds and declares that:
(1) the assistance provided under this chapter to remedy the
conditions described in the Housing Authorities Law constitutes a
public purpose and an essential governmental function for which
public money may be spent and other aid given;
(2) it is a proper public purpose for a public body to aid a
housing authority that operates within the boundaries or
jurisdiction of the public body or to aid a housing project
within its boundaries or jurisdiction because the public body
derives immediate benefits and advantages from the authority or
project; and
(3) this chapter is necessary in the public interest.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 393.003. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Federal government" includes the United States, the United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development, or any other
agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United
States.
(2) "Governing body" means the council, commissioners court,
board, or other body that is in charge of the fiscal affairs of a
public body.
(3) "Housing authority" means an authority created under the
Housing Authorities Law (Chapter 392).
(4) "Housing project" means a work or other undertaking of a
housing authority in accordance with the Housing Authorities Law
or any similar work or other undertaking of the federal
government.
(5) "Public body" means a municipality or municipal corporation,
county, commission, district, authority, or other subdivision or
public body of the state.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 393.004. POWERS OF PUBLIC BODY RELATING TO HOUSING
PROJECTS. To aid and cooperate in the planning, undertaking,
construction, or operation of a housing project located within
its jurisdiction, a public body may, on terms established by the
public body:
(1) dedicate, sell, convey, or lease any of its property to a
housing authority or to the federal government;
(2) provide that parks, playgrounds, other recreational
facilities, community facilities, educational facilities, water
facilities, sewer facilities, or drainage facilities, or other
works that it has the power to undertake, be furnished adjacent
to or in connection with a housing project;
(3) furnish, dedicate, close, pave, install, grade, or plan
streets, roads, alleys, sidewalks, or other places that it has
the power to undertake;
(4) plan or zone any part of the public body and, in the case of
a municipality, change its map;
(5) make exceptions to building regulations or ordinances;
(6) enter agreements for any period with a housing authority or
the federal government relating to action to be taken by the
public body under the powers granted by this chapter;
(7) enter agreements relating to the exercise of power by the
public body relating to the repair, elimination, or closing of
unsafe, unsanitary, or unfit dwellings;
(8) provide for the furnishing of services to a housing
authority of the type the public body has power to furnish;
(9) purchase or invest in bonds issued by a housing authority;
(10) exercise the rights of a bondholder in relation to any
bonds purchased under Subdivision (9); or
(11) take other action necessary or convenient to aid and
cooperate in the planning, undertaking, construction, or
operation of a housing project.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 393.005. RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN HOUSING PROJECT CHANGES. A
public body may not require changes to be made with respect to a
housing project that a housing authority has acquired or taken
over from the federal government and that the housing authority
by resolution has found and declared to have been constructed in
a manner that promotes the public interest and affords the
necessary safety, sanitation, and other protection. The public
body may not require changes to be made in the manner of the
construction of the project and may not take other action
relating to that construction.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 393.006. PAYMENT OF EXPENSES; CONVEYANCE POWERS. (a) A
public body may incur the entire expense of any public
improvement made by the public body in exercising powers under
this chapter.
(b) A public body may sell, convey, lease, or make an agreement
under this chapter without appraisal, public notice,
advertisement, or public bidding.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 393.007. PAYMENT CONTRACTS. (a) In connection with a
housing project located wholly or partly within its jurisdiction,
a public body may contract with a housing authority or with the
federal government relating to any amounts that the housing
authority or the federal government agrees to pay to the public
body during the contract period for the improvements, services,
and facilities furnished by the public body for the benefit of
the housing project. The amount of those payments may not exceed
the estimated cost to the public body of the improvements,
services, or facilities.
(b) The absence of a contract for those payments does not
relieve the public body from the duty to furnish for the benefit
of the housing project the customary improvements and any
services and facilities that the public body usually furnishes
without a service fee.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 393.008. LOANS TO HOUSING AUTHORITY. (a) When a housing
authority that is created for a municipality becomes operative,
the governing body of the municipality shall immediately estimate
the amount necessary for the administrative expenses and overhead
of the housing authority during its first year of operation. The
governing body shall appropriate that amount to the authority
from money in the municipal treasury that is not appropriated for
other purposes. The governing body shall pay that amount to the
housing authority as a loan.
(b) Any municipality located wholly or partly within the area of
operation of a housing authority may lend or agree to lend money
to the housing authority at any time.
(c) The housing authority shall repay loans made to it under
this section when it has money available for repayment.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 393.009. POWERS AUTHORIZED BY RESOLUTION. (a) The
exercise by a public body of the powers granted under this
chapter may be authorized by a resolution of its governing body
adopted by a majority of the members of the governing body who
are present at a meeting. The resolution may be adopted at the
meeting at which it is introduced, and the resolution takes
effect immediately. However, the exercise of the powers is
subject to the conditions prescribed by Section 393.010.
(b) The resolution is not required to be laid over, published,
or posted.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 393.010. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ACTION; PETITION; ELECTION.
(a) An action authorized by this chapter may not be consummated
until the governing body of the public body gives notice of its
intention to enter into a cooperation agreement with a housing
authority. A copy of the notice must be published at least twice
in the officially designated newspaper, if any, of the public
body. The notice must state that at the expiration of 60 days the
governing body will consider the question of whether to enter
into a cooperation agreement.
(b) If, during the 60-day period, a petition signed by at least
2,000 of the qualified voters of the public body or by at least
five percent of the qualified voters of the public body is
presented to the governing body requesting that an election be
held on the question, and if the petition is determined to have
been signed by the requisite number of qualified voters, the
governing body shall order an election to be held in the public
body on the question. Two weeks' notice of the election must be
given in the manner required by law for elections on the question
of issuing tax-supported bonds. If a majority of the votes
received in the election favor the cooperation agreement, the
governing body shall execute the agreement.
(c) The governing body may also order such an election on its
own motion. If a majority of the votes received in the election
favor the cooperation agreement, the governing body may execute
the agreement.
(d) If the governing body fails or refuses to give notice of its
intention to enter a cooperation agreement with a housing
authority or fails or refuses to submit the question to an
election as provided by Subsection (c), then, on filing of a
petition demanding an election and signed by at least 2,000 of
the qualified voters of the public body or by at least five
percent of the qualified voters of the public body, the governing
body shall order an election to be held in the public body for
the purpose of submitting a proposition for the approval of the
cooperation agreement. If a majority of the votes received in the
election favor the cooperation agreement, the governing body may
execute the cooperation agreement.
(e) The laws relating to elections for the issuance of municipal
or county bonds as prescribed by Chapter 1251, Government Code,
apply to an election covered by this section unless those laws
are inconsistent with this section or are superseded by the
Election Code.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 8.343, eff. Sept.
1, 2001.