A Dallas-based nonprofit has created an “anti-displacement toolkit” to address “housing instability” in the city.
Builders of Hope works to create housing options for Dallas residents, regardless of income, education, or race.
Over the past few years, the Builders of Hope Community Development Corporation has been working alongside the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and The Dallas Foundation to create a guided housing policy for the Dallas City Council to consider.
Through many city-wide open houses, neighborhood listening sessions, surveys of hundreds of Dallas residents, and knocking on over 1,000 doors, the nonprofit has created specific policy recommendations for the City of Dallas.
“In 2012, a typical home-owning Dallas family earned $42,000 per year and could afford 44% of the homes sold that year. Just a decade later, in 2022, a typical home-owning Dallas family earned $64,000 per year but could only afford 12% of the homes sold that year,” The Builders of Hope website states.
If this trend continues, Builders of Hope estimates that by 2032, fewer than 2% of homes in Dallas will be affordable for families earning the median income.
Additionally, the organization says that Dallas has one of the lowest homeownership rates compared to other major American cities, with just 42% of residents owning a home.
A similar trend was observed among Dallas residents who rent their homes. In 2012, the typical household renting a home earned about $32,200 and could afford nearly 50% of the apartments for rent in the city. In 2022, the typical household income of a renter was $51,600, but they could only afford about 30% of the apartments in the city. Builders of Hope estimates that by 2032, only 21% of rental houses could be affordable to the average Dallas household.
Thus, the nonprofit’s anti-displacement toolkit was created.
“Our goal is that armed with this toolkit, the Dallas City Council will pass housing policy that protects vulnerable residents from direct displacement, preserve and construct affordable housing that is appropriately targeted to existing and future vulnerable residents, and build and resource community power to promote neighborhood self-determination,” Builders of Hope states on its website.
The toolkit focuses on “historically marginalized” communities and provides a way for them to return to their neighborhoods amid rapid development and rising housing costs. Additionally, the toolkit opens opportunities for new low-income residents to move into Dallas.
The strategy contains multiple policy recommendations, such as emergency rental and relocation assistance programs. The organization hopes that the toolkit will serve as a roadmap for Dallas policymakers.
Builders of Hope plans to present its initiative to the Dallas City Council in the fall, per KERA News.
A recent study shows that 90% of Texans say that housing affordability is a real problem, as reported by The Dallas Express.