Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-964 Page: 3 of 6
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Honorable Tim Curry - Page 3 (JM-964)
the time the plan is submitted to the Department." d.
34.007(c). Assistance "may include the provision of
utilities, food, housin,, and clothing to needy persons."
Id. 34.007(d) (emphasis added). Pursuant to section
34.004 of chapter 34, the Department adopted the following
rules for provision of housing assistance under the program:
[T]he [county, other political subdivision,
or non-profit corporation] may deliver the
following services:
(1) mass shelter -- purchasing cots and
blankets and renting space;
(2) emergency rent -- paying for one
month only to prevent eviction and to provide
housing for the homeless;
(3) mortgage assistance -- paying for one
month only to prevent eviction "or
closure . . . .1
40 T.A.C. 10.4304(b).
Chapter 34 authorizes the provision of temporary,
emergency housing assistance. Homelessness is not a pre-
requisite to assistance. Rather, prevention of homelessness
and promotion of stability are primary purposes of the
statute's enactment. These purposes are served by the
provision of one month's mortgage assistance to a person or
family on the verge of homelessness through eviction or
foreclosure on their home. This form of assistance allows
the family time to take measures *to prevent eviction or
foreclosure or to find other housing. We do not see that
making a mortgage payment is significantly different from
making a rent payment for individuals in this situation.
Indigents do not need to be totally impoverished before
assistance may be provided. Attorney General Opinion 0-2474
(1940). The legislature, in enacting chapter 34, clearly
did not intend that a family must be totally destitute in
order to qualify for housing assistance. Instead, one
1. According to the Department, "closure" is a typo-
graphical error in the rule as adopted. The Department
interprets the rule as applying to "foreclosure."p. 4908
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-964, text, October 7, 1988; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth273402/m1/3/: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.