DALLAS — The Dallas City Council is confronting a vexing and historic issue: the search for solutions to the "north-south divide" in housing equity in the city.
"Regardless of where you live, it shouldn't determine your outcome," said Dallas District 3 Councilman Casey Thomas, II after his presentation of a racial equity audit of the City of Dallas' Comprehensive Housing Policy.
The goal is to find ways the city can alleviate disparities and improve housing options in all parts of the city.
The audit was requested in January 2021 at the first Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee meeting after councilmember Thomas was appointed chair.
In early summer 2021, the City of Dallas Department of Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization contracted with TDA Consulting to analyze the ways that the CHP helps or hurts the city in meeting its racial equity goals.
The 38-page report, which will become the focus of community meetings for neighborhood input, will eventually be presented to the Dallas City Council with a list of recommendations to seek solutions to decades-old housing issues in the city.
The report shows, for example, that while 53% of white Dallas residents own homes, the percentage is 41% for Latino households and just 28% for Black residents. And, while the average home value for white Dallas residents is approximately $295,000, it is just $90,000 for Latino households and $85,000 for Black households in the city.
SMU Economics Professor J.H. Collum Clark is cited in the report as calling the "elephant in the room" the fact that "Southern Dallas... contains approximately 64% of the City of Dallas's population... and "only 10% of the total property value in Dallas city limits."
And as shown in the WFAA series Banking Below 30, the lack of home loans, at a north of Interstate 30 rate, persists in southern Dallas.
"Well, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step," Thomas said, of the equity audit and his hopes for the solutions it could generate. "And the first step was today, acknowledging that we have not taken into consideration racial equity in developments specifically of this housing policy...".
The equity report will be the subject of community meetings, recommendations made to the city council, and next year proposed changes in city policy to make the playing field more fair and to offer solutions to lingering historic discrepancies in Dallas housing.
"In terms of developing a comprehensive strategy around the policy that will level the playing field for everyone in the City of Dallas," Thomas said. "We want to make sure we eliminate all the barriers to success and make it possible for everyone to achieve the American dream."
A dream currently with a red line running through it in Dallas. But now, with what the city hopes, is a road map for significant future change.