The Dallas Department of Housing & Neighborhood Revitalization has posted a notice of financial availability for an initial $4.3 million of taxpayer money to acquire and redevelop a former extended-stay hotel.
A notice of financial availability (NOFA), guided by Dallas Housing Policy 2033, “promotes mixed-income development projects that directly target funds and incentives towards pre-defined reinvestment strategies.”
“NOFA is open to for-profit and non-profit applicants proposing the development of affordable rental and for-sale housing developments, including affordable rental housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, that also include a portion of units for persons with special needs,” a document on the City website states.
The City purchased the hotel property at 4150 Independence Ave. in 2020 for $5 million and subsequently evicted about 40 people who were living there, The Dallas Express reported. Documents show it is among five properties “in varying stages of development under the purview of the Office of Homeless Solutions, the Department of Housing & Neighborhood Revitalization, and the Department of Public Works Real Estate Division.”
The other properties are 1950 Fort Worth Ave., 2929 S. Hampton Rd., 9019 Vantage Point, and 711 S. St. Paul St. The Independence Drive property and the Hampton Road property, a former hospital, are in Council Member Zarin Gracey’s District 3.
During a June 24 meeting of the Housing & Homelessness Solutions Committee, Gracey pleaded with other committee members to recommend to the Dallas City Council that the Hampton Road property be sold and the money used to develop the property on Independence Drive.
“The math on this decision is really not that complicated,” he said. “This property … was purchased with 2017 homeless proposition dollars. To sell that property means that we could then take that money and focus those dollars on potentially finishing out Independence, as well as any other properties that are still lying in wait to be completed.”
Gracey opposes redeveloping the Independence Drive property for anything other than public use.
“We had four community meetings,” he said. “We did surveys from there. We had 325 responses from the surveys, and it is a resounding message; … they’re not wanting to use this property to support permanent supportive housing. However, there are a number of public-purpose uses that the community has come up with.”
He said he was also concerned about “the amount of crime and drugs and all of that activity” in the area.
“So, having that additional funds can help us support the activity that needs to be around there. Right now, I have businesses on the brink of closing because there are tents in front of the stores,” Gracey said.
Polling conducted by The Dallas Express shows that some 75% of Dallas voters believe homelessness, vagrancy, and aggressive panhandling are “major” problems in the city. Respondents also appeared to be generally supportive of the “one-stop-shop” homeless services model used by Haven for Hope in San Antonio. The model has been credited with a 77% reduction in unsheltered homelessness in the city’s downtown area.
Some local stakeholders want to bring the model to Dallas. However, it is unclear whether City officials will support such a measure.
Council Member Gay Donnell Willis (District 13), who also sits on the Housing & Homelessness Solutions Committee, said she could not support Gracey’s proposal.
“But you’re dealing with something that is owned by the City in one capacity with the St. Paul property, and then you’ve got another property that was bought with bond dollars. And I know that comes with some different requirements. So, it just seems like to lump these together … all of a sudden, we’re saying, ‘Hey, we want to sell, sell, sell.'”
Committee member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12) sided with Gracey but offered no optimism that such a project could be delivered.
“I do also agree we should just sell that Hampton property — not because I actually don’t think it’s a great property for something,” she said. “It’s just that, clearly, the City is not able to execute it. … We just need to cut [our losses] and use the proceeds from that sale to actually get Independence up and going.”
Gracey’s motion to sell the Hampton property and use the revenue to redevelop the Independence site failed.
“The real issue here is that there’s a cost to maintain and secure this property,” Mendelsohn said. “And, in fact, we could say that about every property on this list, which dates back to 2022, more properties from 2022, one property from 2023, which, surprisingly, is the one we are not doing ourselves. And, instead, what are we doing? We’re pursuing another consultant who’s going to dream up some idea of what?”
She also said the City of Dallas was “terrible at developing property.”
“I don’t think I need to explain to you what’s happened on Stemmons. I don’t need to explain to you all these properties here and go through it again because we mostly do that every month. But we need to let the private market do its job, and that’s why we need to sell this property,” she said.
Committee members ultimately recommended to the council to sell 2929 S. Hampton Rd.
“However, because it is such a small piece of ground, I don’t see this being something we can master plan away at the city and with some long-term 99-year lease revenue situation,” Council Member Chad West (District 1) said. “I think it’s the kind of piece of property that could be picked up by one of the surrounding property owners and made into something more meaningful. And this one, to me, is kind of a no-brainer to go ahead and just at least provide our preference to a sale for this property.”