The City of Dallas approved a new housing policy on Wednesday after a heated debate in which Council Member Cara Mendelsohn said the City Council “exacerbates racial issues” rather than addressing the root causes of poverty and homelessness.
The Dallas Housing Policy 2023 seeks to align the City’s housing programs with the Racial Equity Plan passed last year.
City Council passed the policy in a 12-2 vote. The only council members to vote against the policy were Mendelsohn and Adam McGough.
Mendelsohn criticized this iteration of the housing policy, arguing that to address housing needs, the underlying causes of poverty must be addressed.
“This is a symptom of poverty, and the focus has not been, at this council, on addressing poverty issues,” she claimed. “It’s solely on exacerbating racial issues, in my opinion.”
The housing policy adopted by the council emphasizes alleged “racial disparities” in “severe housing problems,” “median home value,” and “homeownership rates.”
“Racial and economic inclusion are integral to Dallas’ housing growth,” the policy asserts.
Mendelsohn also criticized City staff for allegedly not engaging with enough members of the community to receive input on this policy.
She noted that staff claimed to have engaged 2,065 people through in-person and virtual meetings. The City of Dallas has a population of more than 1.3 million.
Mendelsohn pointed out that this means about 0.16% of the city’s population were consulted.
“We actually had the same issue with the [Kay Bailey Hutchinson] convention center,” she claimed.
However, Council Member Casey Thomas, who supported the policy, noted that City staff cannot force community members to participate in the policy-making process.
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make ’em drink,” said Thomas.
Thomas explained that, in his view, residents often do not make the effort to attend meetings and give feedback for policies they already support.
“They may have been aware of it, but they had no issues,” he explained. “I’ve had numerous community meetings where I asked people who weren’t there, ‘Why didn’t you come?’ and they said, ‘Well, I was in support of what you’re looking to do, so why was it necessary for me to show up?'”
“I would be more concerned with those who felt left out of the process,” he added.
Along with the Housing Policy, the council approved the Dallas Housing Resource Catalog, a collection of “tools” that the City claims will “help build racial equity” through housing.
This catalog has been previously covered by The Dallas Express.