(a) General. Individuals and families displaced from their dwellings on parcels required for a designated highway project are entitled to replacement housing payments if they relocate into decent, safe, and sanitary replacement housing and meet other eligibility requirements necessary, as determined by the department, to meet applicable legal requirements. If a displacee requests alternate ownership/tenancy status, the department will make a reasonable effort to accommodate the request. The displacee may relocate to any dwelling, but the amount actually paid will be the lesser of the actual cost or actual rent of the replacement dwelling or the housing supplement previously approved by the department. In the case of condemned property and in certain hardship cases, a preliminary replacement housing payment may be made to a qualified displacee prior to the department's acquisition of the property if the displacee signs a contract agreeing to return any overpayment when the department makes final payment for the property acquired.
(b) Payments to owner-occupants for 180 days or more. A displaced owner-occupant of a dwelling may receive supplemental payments, as determined by the department, for the additional cost necessary to purchase replacement housing, to compensate for the loss of favorable financing on an existing mortgage in the financing of replacement housing, or to reimburse the displacee for certain expenses incident to the purchase of replacement housing. The displacee may receive a payment to cover the cost of renting a replacement dwelling. A displacee who is otherwise qualified for a replacement housing payment but who has previously received a rental payment may receive a revised supplement if the displacee purchases and occupies a replacement dwelling within the required one year period and files the claim within 18 months of that date. The amount of the rental payment will be deducted from the housing payment.
(c) Payment to owner-occupants for less than 180 days but not less than 90 days. As determined by the department, a displaced owner of dwelling may receive a payment sufficient to make a down payment on the purchase of a replacement dwelling and to reimburse actual incidental expenses. The displacee may choose to receive a payment to rent a replacement dwelling. A displacee who is otherwise qualified for a down payment supplement but who has previously received a rental payment may receive a revised supplement if the displacee purchases and occupies a replacement dwelling within the required one year period and files the claim within 18 months of that date. The amount of the rental payment will be deducted from the down payment amount.
(d) Tenant-occupants for not less than 90 days. As determined by the department, a displaced tenant may receive a payment sufficient to make a down payment on the purchase of a decent, safe, and sanitary replacement dwelling, as well as the expenses incidental to such purchase. The displacee may choose to receive a payment to rent a replacement dwelling. If the displacee elects to purchase a mobile home as replacement housing, all transportation and set up expense necessary to place the mobile home on a lot, in decent, safe, and sanitary condition, will be included as a part of the total acquisition price of the replacement housing. A change from a rental payment to a down payment will be allowed on the same basis as for an owner-occupant of less than 180 days.
(e) Residential displacees not meeting length of occupancy requirements. A displacee who does not meet the length of occupancy requirement for a replacement housing payment may receive rental assistance when comparable replacement rental housing is not available for less than 30% of the displacee's gross monthly household income. Such assistance shall cover a period of 42 months.

Source Note: The provisions of this §21.117 adopted to be effective March 21, 2002, 27 TexReg 2071