Sec. 2306.753.  OWNER-BUILDER ELIGIBILITY.  (a)  Subject to this section, the department shall establish eligibility requirements for an owner-builder to receive a loan under this subchapter.  The eligibility requirements must establish a priority for loans made under this subchapter to owner-builders with an annual income, as determined under Subsection (b)(1), of less than $17,500.
(b)  To be eligible for a loan under this subchapter, an owner-builder:
(1)  may not have an annual income that exceeds 80 percent, as determined by the department, of the greater of the state or local median family income, when combined with the income of any person who resides with the owner-builder;
(2)  must have resided in this state for the preceding six months;
(3)  must have successfully completed an owner-builder education class under Section 2306.756; and
(4)  must agree to:
(A)  provide through personal labor at least 65 percent of the labor necessary to build or rehabilitate the proposed housing by working through a state-certified owner-builder housing program;
(B)  provide an amount of personal labor equivalent to the amount required under Paragraph (A) in connection with building or rehabilitating housing for others through a state-certified owner-builder housing program;
(C)  provide through the noncontract labor of friends, family, or volunteers and through personal labor at least 65 percent of the labor necessary to build or rehabilitate the proposed housing by working through a state-certified owner-builder housing program; or
(D)  if due to documented disability or other limiting circumstances as defined by department rule the owner-builder cannot provide the amount of personal labor otherwise required by this subdivision, provide through the noncontract labor of friends, family, or volunteers at least 65 percent of the labor necessary to build or rehabilitate the proposed housing by working through a state-certified owner-builder housing program.
(c)  The department may select nonprofit owner-builder housing programs to certify the eligibility of owner-builders to receive a loan under this subchapter.  A nonprofit housing assistance organization selected by the department shall use the eligibility requirements established by the department to certify the eligibility of an owner-builder for the program.
(d)  At least two-thirds of the dollar amount of loans made under this subchapter in each fiscal year must be made to borrowers whose property is in a census tract that has a median household income that is not greater than 75 percent of the median state household income for the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1548, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 30, 1999.  Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1367, Sec. 2.08, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.
Amended by: 
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1365 (S.B. 679), Sec. 4, eff. June 19, 2009.
Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 428 (S.B. 992), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2011.
Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 408 (H.B. 1472), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2023.