Housing officials in Harris, Bexar, Travis, Dallas and Tarrant counties, among others, said they have been surprised to learn that valuable apartment complexes in their backyards were suddenly owned by small housing finance corporations in Cameron County, in the Rio Grande Valley; the City of Pleasanton, south of San Antonio; and Maverick County, on the Mexico border between El Paso and Brownsville.

The housing finance corporation partners up with an apartment complex owner, with the HFC getting an ownership interest for a nominal fee. But because the property is now considered to be owned by a government entity, a property that had been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes pays $0. In exchange, some percentage of the apartments must be reserved as affordable, although that is a flexible term and each deal can have different requirements. The partnerships can last up to 99 years.