The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and what it does for buyers
TDHCA is the state housing agency, and almost nobody applies to it directly. A participating lender reserves the money on your behalf, usually inside a loan application you were filing anyway. Here is what the agency is, which of its programs a buyer can actually use, and how the money is reached.
What is the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs?
TDHCA is the state agency responsible for affordable housing, community and energy assistance programs, colonia activities, and regulation of the state's manufactured housing industry. It was created on 1 September 1991, when the 72nd Legislature merged the Texas Department of Community Affairs with the Texas Housing Agency, and it runs on Chapter 2306 of the Texas Government Code.
Who it answers to, and how it is paid for
A seven-member board appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Texas Senate sets policy, and the governor designates the chair. The agency also answers to the Legislature on a clock: under the Texas Sunset Act it is abolished on 1 September 2029 unless lawmakers vote to continue it. The money is the part most buyers find surprising. The overwhelming majority of the agency's resources come from mortgage revenue bond financing, federal grants and federal tax credits rather than general revenue, which is why the statute requires most of its bonds to state on their face that the state is not obligated to pay the principal or interest, and that the faith, credit and taxing power of the state are not pledged. The agency says plainly why a government department has a finance arm at all: several major housing programs require the participation of private investors and private lenders, so TDHCA also operates as the state's housing finance agency.
- Texas Government Code Chapter 2306, the governing statute: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- TDHCA, About the Department: tdhca.texas.gov
Which TDHCA programs can a homebuyer use?
Two different parts of the agency get called TDHCA, and conflating them is the most common mistake on this topic. The loan products a buyer uses directly live under The Texas Homebuyer Program on a separate site. The grant programs on the main agency site are awarded to cities, counties and nonprofits, and the Single Family Programs division says so in its own words: it does not provide any services directly to individuals. If somebody has told you to apply to TDHCA for a grant, that is usually the division they have in mind, and it is not the one with the mortgage.
My First Texas Home and My Choice Texas Home
These two are siblings and they work the same way. Each pairs a 30-year fixed first mortgage with down payment and closing cost assistance of 2% to 5% of the loan amount, funding permitting, and each asks for a minimum middle credit score of 620. The difference is who is allowed in. My First Texas Home is for first-time buyers. My Choice Texas Home has no first-time requirement at all, which the agency states directly: open to first-time buyers, repeat buyers and qualified veterans. My Choice also carries no purchase price limits and is not subject to the federal recapture tax, which is a real consideration if you might sell within nine years.
The Texas Mortgage Credit Certificate
An MCC is not assistance with cash at closing. It is a certificate that entitles you to a dollar-for-dollar reduction on your federal tax liability, every year you keep the loan and the house. Federal law caps the credit rate between 10% and 50% of the mortgage interest paid. It can be combined with My First Texas Home or taken on its own, and the standalone option carries no minimum credit score requirement. The agency notes that supplies are limited, which is a real constraint rather than a marketing line, because the certificates are issued against bond authority the agency has to have in hand.
| My First Texas Home | My Choice Texas Home | Texas MCC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-time buyer required | Yes | No. Open to repeat buyers and qualified veterans | Not for the standalone certificate |
| What you receive | First mortgage plus 2%-5% down payment assistance | First mortgage plus 2%-5% down payment assistance | A dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit, each year |
| Minimum middle credit score | 620 | 620 | None on the standalone option |
| Purchase price limits | Yes | None | Applies through the loan it is paired with |
| Federal recapture tax | May apply | Not subject to it | May apply |
| How you get it | A participating lender reserves it | A participating lender reserves it | A participating lender reserves it |
How do you apply for a TDHCA program?
You do not. A TDHCA-approved lender reserves the money on your behalf, and that is the single most useful thing to understand about this agency. There is no consumer application form, no queue to join and no separate file to open. The statute builds it that way twice over: the department may designate mortgage lenders to act for it in originating, processing and servicing its mortgage loans, and the board has a specific duty to compile a list of approved mortgage lenders. On 15 September 2026 that published list held 145 lender companies, and the agency's note on it is unambiguous: all loan officers working for any of these companies can help you get access to the program.
What that looks like from your side of the desk
Brad puts the mechanism more plainly than the agency does, and he is describing files he has watched go through: “There's really no extra paperwork. The lender submits it on your behalf. They really just put it into a computer and then it pops up that you're TDHCA eligible.” And on the speed of it: “if your lender knows what she's doing or he's doing, then they can go and look at it and say, like, hey, we can get you approved TDHCA, and they'll do it same day. No extra application on this particular program.” The agency's own three steps agree with him. Step one is an eligibility check that connects you to an approved loan officer, step two is a homebuyer education course, which is genuinely required rather than recommended, and step three is working with a real estate specialist. If you are already with a lender who does not know the program, the agency publishes an address for exactly that situation rather than asking you to change lender.
The part with a clock on it
Once your lender reserves a loan, it has to be purchased by the programme's master servicer within 60 days. Extensions exist and they are priced in fractions of a percent, rising with the length of the extension. This matters to you even though no part of it is your paperwork, because a file that drifts is a file that costs somebody money, and closing dates are set by people who know that. It is a fair question to ask a loan officer before you commit: have you reserved a TDHCA file before, and what is your process for keeping it inside 60 days.
TDHCA or TSAHC: which agency is running your program?
Buyers mix these two up constantly, and so do plenty of people in the industry. They are not the same kind of organisation. TDHCA is a state agency with a seven-member board appointed by the governor, and it receives appropriated funds. The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, incorporated in 1994 at the direction of the Legislature, with a five-member board and, in its own words, no state appropriated funding. TSAHC runs Homes for Texas Heroes, the Home Sweet Texas Home Loan and its own MCC. TDHCA runs My First Texas Home, My Choice Texas Home and the Texas MCC.
Why both exist, settled in one sentence of statute
The Legislature created TSAHC inside Chapter 2306 itself, in Subchapter Y, and then added the line that resolves the whole question: the creation of the corporation does not limit or impair the rights, powers and duties of the department under this chapter. A second vehicle was built without taking anything away from the first. Brad calls them “two sides of the same coin” and “kind of like twins,” and for a buyer comparing down payment assistance that is a fair working summary, because both hand you 2% to 5% toward down payment and closing costs. It stops being a fair summary the moment something goes wrong on your file, because one is a government agency and the other is a nonprofit corporation, and they answer to different people. One practical consequence: TSAHC's Heroes occupation list is defined in legislation rather than by the organisation, which is why it is so specific and why it does not quietly change.
The trade-off nobody mentions until you are in it
The rate on a TDHCA first mortgage is not quoted by your loan officer. The board has a statutory duty to establish interest rates for loans made or financed under the chapter, the agency publishes a rate notice, and lenders sign up for a daily rate feed. It is an administered price. Brad's read on that is the most useful thing he says about the agency, and it is a criticism rather than a sales line: “There is some bureaucrat sitting behind a desk, probably here in Austin, who is deciding what the interest rate is that day,” and so “it's often higher than what you could take advantage of if we went and got a promotional rate with a builder, for example.” Both things are true at once. The assistance is real money you do not have to produce at closing, and the rate attached to it can cost you more over the life of the loan than the assistance handed you at the start. Which way that nets out depends on your numbers, how long you plan to stay, and what else is on the table that week. It is arithmetic, not ideology, and it is worth doing before you commit rather than after.
How to reach TDHCA directly
For questions about the homebuyer programme, the agency runs a dedicated line on 800-792-1119 and an inbox at txhomebuyer@tdhca.texas.gov. The main switchboard is 512-475-3800, open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 17:00 Central, excluding state holidays, and the offices are at 221 East 11th Street in Austin. Two sites carry the agency's name and they do different jobs: tdhca.texas.gov is the agency, and welcomehome.tdhca.texas.gov is the homebuyer programme, which is where the participating lender list and the current income limit tables live. Worth knowing before you call: the agency cannot tell you where your file stands. Your loan is with your lender, the reservation sits in the lender portal, and TDHCA will send you back to the loan officer for anything file-specific.
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