US/Mexico Colonias Web Mapping Service
Texas Regulations and Grant Opportunities
In Texas there are more than 1,400 Colonias, located primarily along the state's 1,248 mile border with Mexico (see the Office of Attorney General's Colonias FAQ's). In 1990 the US Congress passed the Cranston-Gonzalez Affordable Housing Act, which stipulated that 10% of all Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) be awarded to Colonias project development in the US/Mexico Border states. Currently the Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) administers the CDBG funding for Colonias in Texas. Grants are awarded to units of local government that carry out development activities.
In 1989, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 2 to avoid future development of Colonias in Texas. Senate Bill 2 established the Economically Distressed Area Program (EDAP), administered by the Texas Water Development Board. EDAP assistance grants can be obtained for communities with inadequate water or sewer systems, located in counties with 25% unemployment and per capita income 25% below state average. For more information on eligible counties and current projects, see the Texas Water Development Board's EDAP status report. The second element of Senate Bill 2 is the enforcement of Model Subdivision Rules (MSR), which must be adopted and enforced to receive EDAP funding. The MSR require that new subdivisions of land subdivided into tracts of five acres of less must provide adequate water and sewer infrastructure. MSR regulations apply to all subdivisions created after county adoption of the rules. The Office of Attorney General for the State of Texas (OAG) maintains a list of eligible counties which includes all counties within 50 miles of the border, and also maintains current information on the web pertaining to Colonia prevention laws.Due to the nature of financing Colonia lots, few residents have property titles. Instead the developers offer a Contract for Deed to the purchaser of the lot until the loan has been paid off or until foreclosure. In 1995, Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 336 which restricts the recession and foreclosure clauses and requires new disclosure and bi-lingual availability of transactional documents for all Contract for Deed legal affairs. In addition Senate Bill 336 provided for the adoption of conversion of the Contract for Deed to a mortgage once 40% of the purchase price or 48 monthly installments have been paid off. This greatly reduced the number of foreclosures. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs maintains current information on the Contract for Deed conversion program.
Additional Links:
Office of Attorney General's Border Colonias Geography Online
System Requirements | Last modification: 01-Mar-2006@11:17