Leticia Brown, division manager for the Housing Department, told the Community Development Commission on Jan. 14 that the department completed a project to align the city’s loan lien periods for home repair and down‑payment assistance programs with federal U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidance.

Brown said the “Legacy Project” adjusted city liens that had been longer or more restrictive than HUD required. "We decided to go back and modify all of the liens that we had on properties that exceeded HUD's affordability period," she said. Brown said the department had previously applied shared‑equity terms in some loans that required homeowners to repay a prorated loan amount plus a portion of appreciated equity when they sold or refinanced; that provision prompted complaints from homeowners.

Brown described program mechanics and figures from the loan portfolio. She said loan amounts historically ranged from about $1,500 to $129,000, and that the city’s previous affordability periods exceeded HUD’s minimums in many cases. Brown said the city released 799 liens as part of the alignment work and modified approximately 1,000 other liens; she said the releases and modifications were vetted with HUD, the law department and corporate finance to check tax or other implications. The department said roughly $9,000,000 in liens were forgiven or reduced through the action and that releases should be recorded with Travis County in January 2025.

Brown said the decision to align with HUD rules was made in 2023 and was intended in part to avoid the perception that the city was taking a share of homeowners’ appreciation. "People didn't feel like, we deserve a part of their equity," she said, explaining the reason staff pursued change.

Interim Housing Director Mandy DeMaio and staff answered questions about program budgets and next steps. DeMaio said the department’s larger HOME program budget is roughly $3 million and that down‑payment assistance served 29 households in the last year (with assistance levels up to $40,000). DeMaio confirmed that down‑payment assistance no longer uses a shared‑equity requirement; shared‑equity remains limited to certain demolition/rebuild cases.

Commissioners asked when the policy change was made, how many liens already paid off would not be retroactively refunded (Brown said loans already paid off would not be repaid), and whether homeowners had to sign modifications (Brown said positive modification notices were mailed and did not require homeowner signatures). Several commissioners asked staff to continue monitoring the program and to track future funding implications because the shared‑equity repayments had previously provided some program income the city used to support future loans.

Ending: Housing Department staff said the Legacy Project is intended to reduce an equity‑sharing burden households found objectionable, to bring the city’s loans into alignment with HUD requirements and to free some households from longer liens. Staff asked commissioners to publicize upcoming low‑income seat elections for neighborhood representation and said release recordings would proceed in Travis County.