Dallas Gentrification: City council examines ways to preserve affordable housing

DALLAS - After a new study found one in five Dallas neighborhoods is in the early stages of gentrification, Dallas City Council members discussed what, if anything, the city can do to preserve affordable housing in the city. 

What they're saying:

City council members on Monday said the city has to strike a delicate balance between helping preserve and create affordable and market-rate housing while not stifling new development through cumbersome regulations.           

It’s an issue that the non-profit, Builders of Home, is working to address.

Stephanie Champion is the chief of community development for Builders of Hope. She told Dallas City Council members that another problem is the terms of affordability.

"We are discouraging these highly intrusive and incompatible mansions that more often than not turn into short-term rentals in these vulnerable communities," she said.

Developers who agree to provide affordable pricing are not held to that arrangement after a five-year term.

Councilman Chad West pointed out that the city needs to promote affordability without hindering development. 

"We always hear Dallas is too complicated," he said. "People are not building affordable housing because we are too onerous, too much red tape."

"What's the incentive for a builder to say, ‘Yes, I'm going to build an affordable house here,’" said Councilman Jesse Moreno, chairman of the Housing and Homeless Solutions Committee.

"What you are describing is what we are seeing in West Dallas," said Champion. "The new construction is massive and priced upwards of $800,000, sometimes over a million dollars in West Dallas next door to next to wood frame, single story, old home."

Champion said the city may need to consider more zoning protections.

"New construction can be larger but can’t be more than 150% of the existing footprint of the average home," she recommended.

Moreno said home repair programs are also critical to preserving existing affordable housing. 

"That’s someone's home. That’s someone’s legacy," he said. "We need to protect that."

Big picture view:

Champion said there is also a need for the state to pass property tax reform to keep homeowners and renters from being priced out.