The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) announces two rule actions relating to 10 TAC Section 10.612 Tenant File Requirement and New 10 TAC 10.628 entitled Verification of Occupant Legal Status for HOME, HOME-ARP, and NHTF developments. These rule actions were approved by the TDHCA Governing Board on January 15, 2026. These rules will be released for public comment and returned to the Board for final adoption.
The rule actions, including their preambles, are expected to be published in the Texas Register edition for January 23, 2026. The published version will constitute the official version for purposes of public comment and can be found at https://www.sos.texas.gov/texreg/index.shtml.
These two rule actions relate to the implementation of PRWORA legal status requirements in the Department’s HOME, HOME-ARP, and HTF Multifamily properties. The revisions are being made to two sections of the Compliance rule to effectuate this policy. All properties in the Department’s portfolio that have HOME, HOME-ARP, or NHTF units will be required to adhere to this rule. The rule will require that all persons signing a lease must have been verified as having legal status being a US citizen, US National, or are a qualified alien. This requirement will not apply to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and/or dating violence, more specifically populations protected by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA). A property can perform this requirement through verification based on a series of acceptable documents or through the SAVE system.
- Section 10.612 Tenant File Requirements. This rule revision relates to what must be kept in a tenant file by a property. For HOME, HOME-ARP, and NHTF Developments, the property will need to include in the file documentation to support the legal status of all persons signing the lease has been verified; and an attestation signed by all parties signing the lease that they are not harboring an illegal immigrant, or housing an unqualified alien, in violation of federal law.
- Section 10.628 is a new section to the rule entitled Verification of Occupant Legal Status for HOME and NHTF Developments. It provides the detail of how this policy will be implemented.
The proposed rule actions can be found on the TDHCA Public Comment Center at https://www.tdhca.texas.gov/tdhca-public-comment-center.
Written comments may be submitted to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, Brooke Boston, via email to [email protected].
A round table to discuss the proposed rules and answer questions will be held on Wednesday, February 4 at 2 p.m., Central Time, at the Stephen F. Austin Building (1700 North Congress) in Room 170.
ALL COMMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 5 p.m., Central Time, on March 3, 2026.