Advocates Push to Add $200M For Affordable Housing in Dallas’ 2024 Bond

The Community Bond Task Force is set to make recommendations to the Dallas City Council on Dec. 6 about how to divvy up 2024 bond funds for housing, economic development, parks, streets, and erosion control projects. 

The CBTF issued the following recommendations, totaling $1.1 billion, in an Oct. 27 memo:

• Streets and Transportation $375 million
• Park and Recreation $350 million
• Flood and Erosion Control $75 million
• Housing, Economic Development and Homelessness $100 million
• Critical Facilities $200 million 

The bond election is next year, although a May or November date is still being debated. 

Advocates Want $200 Million For Housing in 2024 Bond

Members of the Dallas Housing Coalition are asking for $200 million for affordable housing. The Community Bond Task Force is proposing $100 million for housing, economic development, and homelessness, with about $25 million specifically slated for affordable housing.  

The median income in Dallas is $58,200 and the average home price is $405,000, Dallas Housing Coalition co-founder Bryan Tony has said. 

“To afford that kind of home, you need to earn $135,000 as a household,” he said. 

The housing supply gap is 36,660 units and is expected to grow to over 80,000 units by 2033, according to the Child Poverty Action Lab. 

Housing Advocates Weigh in on City Manager’s Recommended $4.63 Billion Budget 

“At Dallas Housing Coalition, we are working to address the housing crisis in Dallas,” DHC officials wrote in an email rallying support at the Dec. 6 council meeting on the 2024 bond. “With a shortage of affordable homes and many residents facing housing cost burdens, it’s clear that action is necessary. We understand the positive impact that housing can bring to all.” 

The Biggest Obstacle to Affordable Housing is Money

Developer Kirk Presley, whose firm Ojala Partners secured one of the first Public Facility Corporation projects in Dallas, said in an October webinar that money is the biggest obstacle to building affordable housing. 

“When you’re talking about affordable housing, you’re talking about building something and then offering it to people below the cost to build it,” he said. “If we wanted everyone to live in market-rate housing, we wouldn’t have a problem, but we have half of our city that can’t afford market-rate housing with what the cost of construction is. It’s only through city government, federal, local subsidy, that you can create something you’re going to sell below costs.”

The 2-24 bond funds can leverage private investment for affordable housing, Presley said. 

“A little bit of city money activates an enormous pool of public-private partnership money [for those who want] to build housing and cannot do it at an affordable rate,” he said.