This article is general information for property management teams, not legal or compliance advice. Your property’s Land Use Restriction Agreement (LURA) and the current Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) rules control your obligations. Confirm requirements with your compliance team or TDHCA before making changes.
If your Texas tax credit property has resident supportive services in its LURA, the short answer is this: you must provide the specific services your LURA lists, as often as it says, free of charge to residents, and keep records that prove each service happened. A holiday party or a pizza night is a fine community event, but it generally will not satisfy a supportive services requirement on its own.
For property managers, this is where resident programming stops being optional. Missed or poorly documented services can turn into a finding of noncompliance during a monitoring review. Here is what the requirement means in practice, what tends to qualify, and how to document it.
What are resident supportive services?
Resident supportive services are programs that a housing development agrees to provide for its residents as a condition of its financing or tax credit award. In Texas, many properties financed through TDHCA programs, including the Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, have these services written into their LURA.
According to TDHCA’s 2024 supportive services training, the LURA specifies who provides the services, which services are required, where they are held, and how often (TDHCA, 2024). Requirements apply across several TDHCA programs, including LIHTC, Bond, HOME and others.
The core rules TDHCA highlights
TDHCA’s training presentation emphasizes several points every site team should know:
- Your LURA is the source of truth. Frequency can be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual, depending on what the LURA says.
- Services must be free. TDHCA states that services “must be held free-of-charge to the development’s tenants.”
- Each required service needs its own event. One combined event generally cannot satisfy several different LURA requirements at once.
- Location matters. Services are generally held onsite. If they are offered offsite, transportation must be provided at no cost to residents.
- Services must be real services. TDHCA’s training notes that resources a household could easily find on its own, such as general online videos, are not sufficient. It also notes that one type of class does not substitute for a different required category; for example, a credit counseling class does not satisfy an Adult Education requirement.
- Obligations last as long as the LURA requires. That can include the compliance period, any extension, and the extended use period.
All of the points above come from TDHCA’s 2024 supportive services training. Always check the current Uniform Multifamily Rules and your own LURA for the final word.
What kinds of services typically qualify?
The exact list depends on your LURA, but qualifying services usually focus on skills, health, education and stability rather than entertainment. For a sense of what Texas housing agencies consider meaningful, the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC), a separate organization with its own program, publishes examples such as (TSAHC Resident Services Guidelines):
- Career services: computer literacy, GED classes, job skills training, job fairs
- Children’s services: after-school programs, on-site tutoring, swimming lessons
- Financial skills: household budgeting, credit counseling, tax preparation
- Health services: first aid and CPR, fitness classes, health screenings, low-cost cooking classes
- Personal development: ESL classes, homeownership counseling, parenting classes
- Community awareness: crime watch meetings, fire safety classes, community gardens
TSAHC also lists activities that may be offered but do not count toward its requirement, including resident parties, children’s movie time, patio decorating contests and Easter egg hunts.
Important: TSAHC’s guidelines apply to TSAHC properties and are used here only as an illustration. TDHCA properties must follow their own LURA and TDHCA rules.
How to document supportive services for a monitoring review
Good programming that is not documented can still produce a finding. TDHCA’s training lists the kinds of records reviewers look for (TDHCA, 2024):
- Sign-in sheets showing the date, type of service, resident signatures and unit numbers. If no residents attend, staff can sign to show the service was offered.
- Newsletters, calendars, flyers and notices showing the service was promoted. TDHCA references newsletters from the 12 months before a review.
- A schedule of planned services and a list of the LURA services offered.
- Contracts, invoices and ledgers for service providers, plus a provider’s tax-exempt status if applicable.
TDHCA’s training also describes reviewers looking for evidence of two consecutive current occurrences of each service, such as two months in a row for a monthly service.
A practical documentation checklist
For every required service, keep a folder (digital or physical) with:
- The LURA language for that service
- The annual calendar showing when it is scheduled
- The flyer or notice for each session, with the date it was posted or sent
- The sign-in sheet, with dates, service type, signatures and unit numbers
- The provider agreement and invoice
- Notes on any rescheduled or canceled sessions and how they were made up
What happens if services are missed?
TDHCA’s training states that failure to comply “shall result in a finding of noncompliance.” Enforcement records show this can go further. In one TDHCA agreed order approved in December 2013, the findings included that the owner “failed to submit evidence that health education programs had been provided,” and the order assessed a $5,000 administrative penalty for the violations as a whole (TDHCA Agreed Order, Willow Pond). That case is older and involved several issues, but it shows that documentation gaps can have real consequences.
Changes to the scope of required services generally need TDHCA approval, while changing providers may not, unless the scope changes. Talk to your compliance team before swapping or dropping a service.
Common mistakes site teams make
- Counting social events as required services. Parties build community, but they usually are not the education, health or skills programming a LURA requires.
- Combining requirements into one event. A single “resource fair” may not satisfy several distinct required services.
- Missing sign-in details. A sheet without unit numbers or a service type is weak evidence.
- Letting the calendar slip during staff turnover. A new manager may not know which services are owed or how often.
- Using services residents could find on their own. Sending a link to an online video is not the same as providing a class.
- Charging residents for materials or attendance. Required services must be free to tenants.
How Roseway supports affordable communities
Roseway Resident Services delivers programming for tax credit and affordable communities, including life skills and job readiness workshops, financial literacy education, food pantries and community resources, and kids’ and family programming (see who we serve). Roseway can plan the calendar, coordinate providers, run sessions on-site and provide follow-up reporting, so your team has organized records instead of scrambling before a review.
Your compliance team should still confirm that each planned session matches the specific services in your LURA. Roseway primarily serves communities in Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.
Frequently asked questions
Do resident parties count as supportive services in Texas?
Generally, no. Supportive services are defined by your LURA and usually focus on education, health, financial or skills programming. TSAHC’s guidelines, for example, explicitly exclude resident parties from counting toward its requirement. Check your LURA and TDHCA rules for your property.
How often do supportive services have to be provided?
As often as your LURA specifies. Frequencies can range from daily to annually, and each required service is tracked separately.
Can residents be charged for supportive services?
No. TDHCA’s training states that services must be provided free of charge to the development’s tenants.
What records does TDHCA look at for supportive services?
Sign-in sheets, newsletters, calendars, flyers, notices, schedules of planned services, provider contracts, invoices and ledgers, according to TDHCA’s 2024 training.
Can we change our supportive services provider?
TDHCA’s training indicates a provider change does not need prior written approval unless the scope of services changes. Substantive changes to the services themselves generally require approval. Confirm with TDHCA before making changes.
Get consistent, well-documented resident programming
If keeping up with required services is stretching your site team, Roseway can help you deliver consistent programming residents actually use. Contact Roseway to talk through your community’s needs and request a custom quote. For broader ideas on engaging residents, see How Resident Services Improve Retention Rates.