Dallas’ permitting process will require some serious fine-tuning if City officials want to tackle the “significant increases” in homelessness and vagrancy, according to a recent report.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s Task Force on Homelessness, Organizations, Policies, and Encampments (HOPE) found that improving operations at the City’s reportedly inefficient permitting department could help reduce homelessness and vagrancy in Dallas.
According to the task force’s report, City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s Development Services Department (DSD) needs to “streamline the permitting process to expedite construction projects and encourage the creation of housing.”
By streamlining the permitting process, the task force said it believes “the City can significantly improve the effectiveness of its homelessness response efforts.”
One of the measures the task force recommended to the City was easing zoning and permitting rules to facilitate quicker construction of alternative housing types, like accessory dwelling units. It also advised accelerating the permitting process for housing developments aimed at people making “50% Area Median Income (AMI)” and below.
“Simplify and expedite procurement, legal, zoning, permitting, contracting, and reimbursement processes,” HOPE wrote in its report. “This can remove unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, making it easier for nonprofits to engage with the City and participate in homeless services and housing projects.”
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, polling found that Dallas parents are deeply concerned over the pervasiveness of homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling in the city.
Eliminating barriers impacting the construction of residences in Dallas could prove crucial in providing housing stock to bring down the price of lower-income homes and rental units, which might also help maintain the city’s already flagging population and mitigate homelessness and vagrancy.
A 2023 report by Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL) claimed that while Dallas lacks a supply gap for households making above 50% AMI, it does have a nearly 34,000 rental unit supply gap for lower-income households earning at or below 50% AMI. According to the Dallas-based nonprofit, the supply gap is projected to grow to 83,000 units by 2030. With a shortage of lower-income housing, rent averages have gone up 60% since 2015 — with a pronounced spike of 33% since January 2020.
Although DSD started 2023 with some positive momentum and reduced permit times, that quickly changed as the year progressed.
While development is typically known to pick up during the summer months, DSD’s permit activity in May and June basically slowed to a crawl. Some of the slowdown was allegedly due to a purported cyberattack on City of Dallas computer servers in May. Still, other problems likely stemmed from certain permits having to pass through multiple inter-agency departments before being issued.
The Dallas Express reached out to CPAL for more information about the report but did not hear back by press time.