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Local Renters Struggle to Find Housing Under Budget

Lower-Income Housing Becomes Scarce Locally
Apartments | Image by Shutterstock

Soaring rent prices across the state make it harder for renters to find housing in North Texas.

The average rent in Dallas is up by 17% year-over-year, with an average price of $1,568, according to RentCafe. Since the start of the pandemic, prices have increased by 22.8%, or an average of $450 more a month.

As prices rise, renters are faced with the challenge of finding an apartment within their price range in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Such was the case for local North Texan Chastidy Byrns.

Byrns spent several months looking for an apartment before she found one at Lakes of Eldorado in McKinney.

“This really meant a lot to me to get this apartment,” said Byrns. “I paid my deposit, I got my keys, and I signed the lease,” she said.

After living in her apartment for no more than a few days, Byrns was informed that she had to move out because she was no longer qualified to live at Lakes of Eldorado. Byrns said property management gave her two weeks to move out but refused to provide her a specific reason for the sudden eviction.

Even though Accolade Property Management, the owner of Lakes of Eldorado, declined to comment due to resident privacy concerns, Byrns speculated the decision was based on either credit scores or a background check.

“It’s just hard finding another apartment. I’ve been non-stop pounding the internet to find another place to live,” Byrns said. “I just don’t understand why I can’t have a chance since they messed up somehow or another.”

Byrns is not the only North Texas resident struggling to find an apartment.

Studio apartments were the only rental category to see a month-over-month decrease in DFW, while one- and two-bedroom apartments saw monthly increases, according to rental platform Zumper.

The average rent for a studio apartment in Dallas fell 2% to $1,414, per September 8 rental-price data. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment increased 3% from the previous month to $1,473, while a two-bedroom apartment rose 1% to $2,029.

Plano resident Anthony Corbeil told The Dallas Express he spent months looking for a one-bedroom apartment that he could afford before deciding to give up and find a roommate.

“I spent from March to July looking for a cheap apartment but never had any luck. It felt like each month I was chasing after something that didn’t exist,” Corbeil said. “The rent prices I was seeing weren’t manageable on my income, so I ended up finding a two-bedroom apartment with my coworker.”

The arrangement was not what he originally wanted, “but it works,” he said.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office provides comprehensive guidance to help renters in North Texas understand their legal rights as tenants. General guidance and information can be found in the Tenant’s Rights Handbook.

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3 Comments

  1. Senior Pastor

    “Plano resident Anthony Corbeil told The Dallas Express he spent months looking for a one-bedroom apartment that he could afford before deciding to give up and find a roommate.”
    There you have it! This will be the new NORM. Several people having to share one apartment.

    Gone are the days of having your own apartment. So sad.

    Reply
  2. Michelle Stallings

    The Tenants Rights Handbook is not going to help anyone. Until the city/state and government put a price cap on rental properties, nobody will be able to afford rent or living costs. The market rates and supply and demand are causing people with lower income to be pushed out of homes. When you add this to the fact that building companies are not building affordable houses, this can get out of hand. We don’t need half million dollar homes built: We need prices to come down or salaries to go up without inflation wiping out the change. Somebody is going to have to put a cap on the rent increases. This has nothing to do with the pandemic. It has everything to do with greed. Property owners prosper while we go homeless.
    Gentrification at its finest!

    Reply
    • Senior Pastor

      Yet we live in an era where CORPOATIONS own all the news organizations and are able to SHAPE public opinion to their benefit. Not to mention the campaign financing corporations dabble in which places senators at their beck and call.

      Reply

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