Single-Family Housing in Dallas Needs Attention But Not a Drastic Overhaul, Dallas Architecture Forum Panelists Say

Local experts gathered for an online panel discussion Wednesday to discuss the future of single-family housing in Dallas. The discussion included ideas to open opportunities for those in the priced-out “missing middle,” crafting healthy density standards, ensuring accessibility, and strategically managing infill development.

“We’re not talking about a drastic overhaul or the collision of high-density high-rises and single-family,” said University of Texas at Arlington professor Julia Lindgren. “We’re talking about gentle and intentional insertions and then perhaps thinking about the transition zones between single-family neighborhoods to multi-family, and further densifying those areas.”

Several older neighborhoods such as Junius Heights have grandfathered duplexes and manor-home-style apartment homes, Lindgren added. Those in the housing industry can learn from such precedents.

“We’ve been looking a lot at the missing middle, where is density going to happen, how can we strategically increase density in areas and fill out neighborhoods of high vacancy?” Lindgren said. “So when you’re looking at high-opportunity neighborhoods, that tends to be the northern sector of the city, areas that are in close proximity to job centers, to transit, to high-performing schools — that’s the area of the city that has more fully developed and built out single-family lots. So how, in those areas, can we insert some light additional density without changing the context or the feeling of the space?” 

Conversely, she said, there needs to be a discussion on how to build out the areas with high vacancy rates, such as the southern sector. 

Kate Aoki, architect and head of exhibition design at the Dallas Museum of Art, moderated the discussion. 

“None of us are advocating that we should get rid of our single-family homes, but I think that it’s no secret that Dallas is changing really fast,” Aoki said. “The way our city looks is changing, and that’s due to a variety of factors. What we have always seen as a culture of single-family homes is rapidly starting to shift.”

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently said, “Now is the time to understand more so we can fear less.” Aoki said that quote has guided her thinking as she researches the topic of single-family housing. 

“We cannot be afraid of the changes that may come, and we can embrace whatever we need to do to coexist,” she said.

Dallas Chief Planner Lawrence Agu III, who manages a newly created team called the “Innovation Lab,” offered some context and history of the city’s land use. In the 1940s and just prior to that, the city was separated by race, he explained. 

“I also wanted to highlight the idea of cumulative zoning,” Agu said. “There’s a hierarchy in how zoning works. High is basically single-family-type uses, and low is industrial uses. With cumulative zoning, those in the higher classes can be allowed in the lower classes. Single-family could happen in the lower uses, but you can’t have an industrial plant built in a residential neighborhood. Because we had those things taking place in our city up until the ‘80s, that has led to where we have these adjacencies in residential, industrial, and all the other undertones that were happening racially in our city. That’s kind of leading to where we are now and fast-forwarding to what we are doing with ForwardDallas and our comprehensive plan update. Currently, there isn’t a future land use map that dictates where things need to go in this city.” 

Affordable Housing

The panelists also discussed affordable housing. 

“Right now in the Dallas metro area, affordable housing for a family of four is set at $89,000,” Lindgren said. “That’s set at 100 percent [average median income]. So when we’re talking about affordability, we’re talking about a percentage of that $89,000. That’s important because it’s setting the standard for housing vouchers and housing subsidies.” 

Agu added that there’s also “naturally occurring affordable housing.” 

“I want to make sure we’re dispelling some of these notions about what it looks like,” he said. “There’s no look to affordable housing.” 

Architect and designer Bang Dang pointed out there are a multitude of housing typologies. 

“I was wondering if there’s any thought of mixed residential, in terms of, if you’re in a single-family zoned area, you could put a duplex or you could put single-family in an [accessory dwelling unit] because that has so many benefits,” Dang said. “There’s a lot of creative solutions that are off the table when you’re only able to do duplex or single-family. I think in terms of affordability, it also helps. If there are blocks and blocks of neighborhoods that are purely single-family and they’re all the same square footage, there’s a certain amount of people in the market that can’t afford them.” 

Typology

People are moving to Dallas in droves, and some of the city’s design context is driven by those who migrated to the area, Dang explained. 

“Things that we wanted to do when we first started out, aesthetically and design-wise, we weren’t getting much traction,” he said. “Because of a lot of people moving here from the east and west coasts, there are things we are able to do, not just aesthetically but the way they live. That’s what we were trying to tap into.” 

From a more macro level, Agu said, there’s a question of where to put people who migrate to Dallas in the near future. The current land composition can’t handle 20,000 more people. 

“We’re going to have to think about a denser approach,” he said. “How are we going to fit all those people and that influx into our existing setup? How do we play with our land use composition? How do we bring more housing to these areas but in a way that doesn’t destroy the particular fabric and way of life in a neighborhood of the city?” 

Lindgren added that some thought should be given to incentives for developers willing to create high-density projects. 

“The market we know is producing a certain trajectory,” she said. “I think we need to start thinking about how we’re incentivizing development in these areas where it’s not just going to naturally occur.” 

The center of the city is often talked about but not the growth pushing outward, Dang added. 

“COVID aside, it seemed like there was a decade when people were moving back to the center of the city,” he said. “Things like West Village and Mockingbird Station started to pop up. There was this wave of duplexes and triplexes in East Dallas. But other folks are still pushing farther out – Southlake, McKinney, Allen. Is that trend going to continue or is that something where we say, ‘That’s the suburbs. We’re going to worry about this radius here and just do infill.’”

What’s Next

The conversation next should move toward zoning and land use, Agu said. 

“When you have something predictable, like what we’re trying to do with ForwardDallas, that’s one piece, a land use vision,” Agu said. “The next piece is to look at our zoning.”

Each of the panelists embraced the idea of telling the story of Dallas’ housing.

“The decisions we make today have real impact,” Lindgren said. “We can learn that from our history. The single-family predominant zoning was directly driven out of planning that was done in the 1940s. These things, for good or for bad, are also happening in real-time now. Seeing that continuity and having that story told through a narrative will be helpful in understanding where we are today and how ForwardDallas and the opportunities that the city is going through now can set the trajectory for decades.”