Sec. 392.018. EXPANSION OF THE AREA OF OPERATION OF A REGIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY. (a) If the commissioners of a regional housing authority, the commissioners court of each county in the authority, and the commissioners court of a county outside the authority each adopt a resolution declaring that there is a need to include the county that is outside the authority in the area of operation of the authority, the area of operation of the authority is increased to include that part of the county not within the territorial boundaries of a municipality.

(b) The commissioners of the authority, the commissioners court of each county in the authority, and the commissioners court of the county outside the authority shall adopt the resolution required for expansion under Subsection (a) if:

(1) the commissioners court of the county outside the authority finds that there is unsanitary or unsafe inhabited housing in the county or a shortage of safe or sanitary housing in the county available to persons of low income at rentals they can afford; and

(2) the commissioners of the authority, the commissioners court of each county in the authority, and the commissioners court of the county outside the authority find that the regional housing authority would be a more efficient or economical administrative unit to carry out the purposes of this chapter if the county outside the authority is included in the area of operation of the authority.

(c) In determining whether housing is unsafe or unsanitary, the commissioners court shall consider the safety and sanitation of the housing, the availability to inhabitants of light and air space, the degree of overcrowding, the size and arrangement of rooms, and the extent to which conditions in the housing subject life or property to the danger of fire or other hazard.

(d) If the housing authority of the county outside the regional housing authority has outstanding obligations, the resolutions required for expansion under Subsection (a) may not be adopted unless:

(1) each obligee of the county housing authority and each party to a contract, bond, note, or other obligation of the authority agrees to the substitution of the regional housing authority on the contract, bond, note, or other obligation; and

(2) the commissioners of the county housing authority and of the regional housing authority adopt resolutions consenting to the transfer of the rights, contracts, obligations, and real and personal property of the county housing authority to the regional housing authority.

(e) If an obligee whose agreement is required by Subsection (d)(1) is unknown, the county housing authority shall publish a notice in a newspaper of general national circulation that states:

(1) the name of the county housing authority;

(2) the name of the regional housing authority;

(3) that the county and regional housing authorities propose that the regional housing authority be substituted for the county housing authority on the contracts, bonds, notes, and other obligations of the county housing authority and that the county housing authority be terminated; and

(4) an address where objections to the substitution may be sent.

(f) The failure to receive an objection to the substitution of the regional housing authority on the obligations of the county housing authority on or before the 30th day after the date of the publication of the notice is equivalent to the unknown obligee's consent to the substitution.

(g) Before a resolution may be adopted under this section by the commissioners court, the court must hold a public hearing. Before the 10th day before the date of the hearing, the county clerk shall publish notice of the time, place, and purpose of the hearing in a newspaper published in the county or, if no newspaper is published in the county, in a newspaper published in the state with general circulation in the county. At the hearing, the commissioners court shall grant an opportunity to be heard to residents of the county and other interested persons.

(h) When all resolutions required by Subsections (a) and (d)(2) are adopted:

(1) the county housing authority of the county added to the area of operation of the regional housing authority ceases to exist except to wind up its affairs and to execute the deed to the regional housing authority as required by Subdivision (3);

(2) the rights, contracts, agreements, obligations, and property of the county housing authority become those of the regional housing authority;

(3) the county housing authority shall execute a deed of the property to the regional housing authority, which shall file the deed with the county clerk of the county where the property is located; and

(4) a person with rights and remedies against the county housing authority may assert, enforce, and prosecute those rights and remedies against the regional housing authority.

(i) The vesting of the real property is not contingent on compliance with Subsection (h)(3).

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.