DALLAS — A vote in the coming days will have a profound effect on the future of affordable housing in the City of Dallas.
Councilmembers will vote on a new, comprehensive housing plan that differs from those in the past by including racial equity elements and covering the entire city.
The goal is to provide quality, affordable housing to previously underserved minority and low-income communities.
Councilmember Casey Thomas says homeownership is the key to wealth building.
“I think this is going to be a great foundation. We know home ownership is the key. Everyone needs a place to where they can call home. And we want to provide the incentives that’s going to make it possible for people’s dream to become a reality,” Thomas said on Inside Texas Politics.
Thomas says the effort has included extensive outreach to neighborhood leaders, industry partners and builders.
And he says “more than a majority” of Council supports the proposal and there’s no general opposition.
The cost, though, he says will be “astronomical” and it will take years to help solve the city’s critical housing shortage. How they pay for the ambitious project is still being worked out.
Known as the “Dallas Housing Policy 2033” (DHP33), the goal is to improve housing disparities that include lower homeownership rates, higher housing cost burdens (paying more than 30% of your income for housing) and lower median property values in communities that have been historically disadvantaged.
Those pockets can be found throughout the City of Dallas and the plan also includes improving infrastructure in those areas.
“We’ll make sure that we can scratch the areas that have been historically itching and provide incentives for our builders, even our builders of color who have not had the opportunities, in order to move forward,” Thomas told us.
The Dallas City Council is scheduled to vote on DHP33 on Wednesday, April 12.