In the event there are Competitive HTC Applications that receive the same number of points in any given set-aside category, rural regional allocation or urban regional allocation, or rural or statewide collapse, the Department will utilize the factors in this section, in the order they are presented, to determine which Development will receive preference in consideration for an award. For the purposes of this section, all measurements will include ingress/egress requirements and any easements regardless of how they will be held. The tie breaker factors are not intended to specifically address a tie between equally underserved subregions in the rural or statewide collapse.

1. (1) Applications proposed to be located in a census tract with a poverty rate below a 20% poverty rate threshold in all regions except for Regions 11 and 13(with Region 11 adding an additional 15% to that value and Region 13 adding an additional 5% to that value). The poverty rate for each census tract will come from the most recent American Community Survey data. If a tie still persists, then the Development in the census tract with the highest percentage of statewide rent burden for renter households at or below 80% Area Median Family Income (AMFI), as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) dataset as of October 1, 2022 and as reflected in the Department's current Site Demographic Characteristics Report. As a consequence of disparities that exist between the two datasets, for the purposes of this subparagraph, the poverty rate for each census tract will be determined based on 2020 census tract boundaries, and the rent burden will be determined based on 2010 census tract boundaries. Each Application will need to specify both the current census tract, as well as the Development Site's pre-2020 census tract in order to qualify for this tiebreaker.
2. (2) Applications proposed to be located the greatest linear distance from the nearest Housing Tax Credit assisted Development that serves the same Target Population and that was awarded 15 or fewer years ago. Years are measured in whole years, and are calculated by deducting the year of the award from the "Board Approval" column of the property inventory from the Site Demographics Characteristics report from the current year. The specific month and date of the award are disregarded for this analysis. Developments awarded Housing Tax Credits but do not yet have a Land Use Restriction Agreement in place will be considered Housing Tax Credit assisted Developments for purposes of this paragraph according to the property inventory included in the HTC Site Demographic Characteristics Report. The linear measurement will be performed from closest boundary to closest boundary of the Site presented at Pre-Application, if a pre-application is submitted, or the Site presented at full Application, whichever is closest.

Source Note:The provisions of this §11.7 adopted to be effective December 26, 2022, 47 TexReg 8533.