This year, the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office (TREO) reviewed TDHCA’s rules and recommended changes to make them more efficient. Several of those recommendations would affect the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) and other rules that govern the affordable housing tax credit program. TAAHP reviewed each recommendation and submitted a public comment letter on May 14. The review has since moved into rulemaking.
TREO was created in 2025 by Senate Bill 14 and operates within the Office of the Governor, where it reviews state agency rules and recommends amendments or repeals where rules may be outdated, duplicative, or unnecessary. It released its draft Regulatory Efficiency Review of TDHCA’s rules on April 27, 2026, and TDHCA accepted feedback through its Public Comment Center from April 30 through May 14. The recommendations were ideas for stakeholder review, not mandates or directives.
TAAHP’s letter supported efforts to improve clarity, reduce duplication, and make rules easier to administer. It also raised concerns about moving substantive standards out of the Texas Administrative Code into staff manuals or website guidance that can change without public notice, Board action, or stakeholder input, and about replacing clear standards with discretionary language. The letter did not oppose all recommendations. TAAHP supported several changes, including aligning affirmative marketing requirements with federal standards, extending training windows, and using year-neutral references.
TAAHP reviewed 74 TREO recommendation items, identified 60 as relevant to affordable housing, and submitted 43 item-specific comments, 32 of which focused on Chapter 11 and the QAP. The depth of that response was possible because the QAP and Compliance Committees moved quickly to review the recommendations and pinpoint where they would have real consequences.
After the comment period, TAAHP followed up on the status of the recommendations. The items TAAHP had raised the most concern about were dropped, and the remaining items moved into TDHCA’s standard rulemaking process.
On June 4, the TDHCA Governing Board approved six rule actions from the review, and only two affect affordable housing directly: the 811 PRA Program rule (10 TAC Chapter 8) and the Affirmative Marketing Requirements rule (10 TAC §10.801). The proposed rules will be published in the Texas Register on June 19, with public comment open through July 20 to Deputy Executive Director Brooke Boston before final Board consideration.
TAAHP will continue monitoring the rulemaking and the 2027 QAP rewrite, focused on rules that are clear, administrable, and predictable while preserving fair competition, reliable underwriting, and long-term compliance.