Dallas

New Dallas Housing Policy to Promote Affordability

Rental units versus owner-occupied homes is one debate

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A new Dallas Housing Policy approved this week is intended to promote affordability in a city where it’s getting very expensive to live.

But the final vote came after some bitterness between city officials. And it leaves many details to be worked out over a year of implementation.

One complaint is that the policy promotes too much multi-family rental development and not enough affordable single-family homes.

Developer Derek Avery has land arranged in the Fruitdale neighborhood of southern Dallas for a project called Reverie.  It will be a collection of nearly three dozen very small homes for young adults just leaving foster care.

“This is a population that we really need to take care of and this particular project, they’ll be owners in 8 years and four months, free and clear,” Avery said.

He has paid attention to the new Dallas Housing Policy adopted by the City Council Wednesday.

Among other options, it promotes projects like Westmoreland Station on Westmoreland Road in Dallas near Illinois Avenue and a DART Rail station. The project under construction is 248 rental units with all but 25 reserved for tenants with limited income.

Avery is still seeking city support for his project.

“We’re promoting more affordable housing but we’re not necessarily promoting enough home ownership,” Avery said. “Home ownership is the great equalizer in closing the wealth gap that we have in this country. That’s why this is important to me.”

That was among the comments from Dallas City Council Member Cara Mendelsohn Tuesday in opposition to the new policy. She also questioned the level of public input in crafting the policy, which Councilman Casey Thomas first initiated.

Officials said more than 2,000 people provided input on the policy.

“I vouch for the consultants and the level of outreach,” Thomas said.

Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax spoke in support of the plan developed by his staff and called Mendelsohn’s comments “a little rich and baffling.”

“Heavy doses of multi-family have been put in the southern part of Dallas and an overload of single family and wealth building opportunities in the northern part of our city,” Broadnax said. “This a difficult issue and we’re trying with this policy, and I hope the council will support it today and not tear it down.”

Mendelsohn responded that Broadnax mischaracterized the amount of single-family housing in her Far North Dallas District.

“It is 35% single family. There’s plenty of multi-family,” Mendelsohn said. “It’s perfectly fair for me to criticize things that I’ve been criticizing and haven’t been changed. And I’ll continue to do so because we can do better.”

Council Member Carolyn King Arnold, filling in for absent Mayor Eric Johnson, called for decorum as Mendelsohn and Broadnax spoke over one another in the debate.

“We must do it in a professional or civil manner,” Arnold said.

Councilman Adam McGough also voted against the policy with Mendelsohn. McGough did not explain his position.

“I get very impatient because right now we need leadership. Leadership is not bickering. Leadership is solving problems,” Avery said.

The new policy calls for a year of implementation during which target neighborhoods will be selected along with projects and neighborhood strategies.

“Anybody that buys a house, they want to stay there, and they’re willing to take care of the neighborhood,” Avery said. “The Fruitdale neighborhood needs development. People want it.”

Money for necessary streets and utilities is also needed to make individual projects succeed.

An advisory council is planned, and city officials said additional public input will be welcomed along the way.

A separate list of housing resources was also approved Tuesday.

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