Just 7% of North Texas apartment complexes accept government-authorized rent payments, report finds
(Mary Stringini)
Dallas - A vast majority of North Texas apartment complexes do not accept housing vouchers that used to be known as Section 8.
The Child Poverty Action Lab presented its study at a Dallas City Council committee meeting on Monday.
The group found just 7 percent of apartment complexes in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton County who responded to the survey accept Housing Choice Vouchers, according to the results of the survey.
Only 5 percent of those apartment complexes are in majority white zip codes.
22 percent of apartment complexes in majority Black zip codes accepted HCVs.
Dallas rent prices seeing some of the highest increases in the U.S., data shows
Data from rent.com shows the average for a two-bedroom in Dallas has jumped up 46% from last year. Other cities like Grapevine and Grand Prairie are seeing even bigger rent increases. Only one North Texas city saw a consistent drop in rent prices.
The group says in order to improve low income families' access to opportunity Housing Choice Vouchers will need to be more widely accepted in neighborhoods they say are "equipped for upward economic mobility".
Child Poverty Action Plan says a lack of affordable housing and long-standing misconceptions limit options for people looking for somewhere to live.
"Trying to move away from language of the past, like section 8 or project housing, I think there are still a lot of legacies of how housing was talked about decades ago that are still with us," said Ashley Flores, the senior director of the Child Poverty Action Plan.
Cities can only encourage landlords to accept housing vouchers. They cannot require them to be accepted.