Housing Committee considers options to increase affordable housing

Housing Committee considers options to increase affordable housing

There’s a shortage of 60,000 affordable housing units in the City of Dallas, according to the North Texas Community Development Association. The City’s Housing Committee was recently briefed on how to improve that number, such as creating more Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO).

CHDOs are in place in south and east Dallas and the Fair Park area. Since 2014, the groups have built nearly 1,500 new housing units and updated more than 200, using Housing and Urban Development funding.

Many renters and homeowners are designated as “severely cost burdened,” based on their family income and the Community Development Association noted that this creates a “staging ground for homelessness.

The Association also said the City can’t do it alone.

Recommendations include using HUD and CHDO federal funds to support the effort, including use of general obligation bonds, tax credits for low income housing and tax reinvestments, which include creating Homestead Preservation Districts.

That approach has been successful in Austin, and the Community Development Association is confident it could also work in Dallas.

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