Tarrant County is attempting to force out-of-county Housing Finance Corporations to pay tens of millions of dollars in property taxes by challenging their tax-exempt status through the county’s appraisal review board, according to information released by the county.
The county alleges these corporations, which are nonprofits owned by local governments aimed at promoting affordable housing, have illegally claimed tax-exempt status on $974 million worth of property across 28 sites in the county.
Regina Calderon, the county’s communications director, said the local government code “is designed to allow an HFC to operate housing within their own boundaries tax free.” But the “HFCs are operating housing outside of their boundaries while still claiming exemption from local ad valorem taxes.”…