SECTION 23.27. Reservation System Participant (RSP) Agreement

(a) Terms of Agreement. The term of an RSP Agreement will not exceed 36 months. Execution of an RSP Agreement does not guarantee the availability of funds under a reservation system. Reservations submitted under an RSP agreement will be subject to the provisions of this Chapter in effect as of the date of submission by the Administrator.

(b) Limits on Number of Reservations. Except for Activities submitted under the Disaster set-aside, RSP Administrators may have no more than five Reservations per county within the RSP's Service Area submitted to the Department for approval at any given time, except that Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Reservations submitted for approval under an RSP Agreement is limited to 30 at any given time.

(c) Extremely Low-Income Households. Except for Households submitted under the Disaster set-aside, each RSP will be required to serve at least one extremely low-income Household out of every four Households submitted and approved for assistance. For purposes of this subsection, extremely low-income is defined as families that are either at or below 30 percent AMFI for the county in which they will reside or have an income that is lower than the statewide 30 percent income limit without adjustments to HUD limits.

(d) Match. Administrators must meet the Match requirement per Activity approved for assistance.

(e) Completion of Construction. For Activities involving construction, construction must be complete within 12 months from the Commitment of Funds for the Activity, unless amended in accordance with subsection (g) of this Section.

(f) Household commitment contract term. The term of a Household commitment contract may not exceed 12 months, except that the Household commitment contract term for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance may not exceed 24 months. Household commitment contracts may commence after the end date of an RSP Agreement only in cases when the Administrator has submitted a Reservation on or before the termination date of the RSP Agreement.

(g) Amendments to Household commitment contracts may be considered by the Department provided the approval does not conflict with the federal regulations governing use of these funds, or impact federally imposed obligation or expenditure deadlines.

(1) The Executive Director's authorized designee may approve an amendment that extends the term of a Household commitment contract by not more than six months, except that the term of a Household commitment contract for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance may not be extended to exceed a total Household commitment contract term of 24 months.

(2) The Executive Director's authorized designee may approve one or more amendments to a Household commitment contract to:

(A) extend the Construction Completion Date by not more than six months;

(B) extend the term of rental subsidy up to a total term of 24 months;

(C) extend the draw period by not more than three months after the Construction Completion Date or termination of rental subsidy; or

(D) increase Activity funds within the limitations set forth in this Chapter.

(3) The Executive Director may approve amendments to a Household commitment contract, except amendments to extend the contract term of a Household Commitment contract by more than 12 months.

(h) Pre-agreement costs. The Administrator may be reimbursed for eligible administrative and Activity soft costs incurred before the effective date of the RSP Agreement in accordance with 24 CFR §92.212 and at the sole discretion of the Department. In no event will the Department reimburse expenses incurred more than six months prior to the effective date of the RSP Agreement.

(i) Administrator must remain in good standing with the Department, the state of Texas, and HUD. If an Administrator is not in good standing, participation in the Reservation System will be suspended and may result in termination of the RSP Agreement.

Source Note: The provisions of this §23.27 adopted to be effective November 26, 2020, 45 TexReg 8327; amended to be effective November 16, 2023, 48 TexReg 6591