City Hall Roundup: Dallas Housing Coalition Responds to Meager Allocation in 2024 Bond
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Following a Valentine’s Day Dallas City Council vote to allocate just $26.4 million for housing in the May bond election, advocates admitted they are disappointed but will continue to fight for more options and affordability.
The housing allocation is a far cry from the $200 million that members of the Dallas Housing Coalition and Dallas Neighbors for Housing pushed for. About $36.6 million of the economic development bond funds will be assigned to housing projects, city officials promised during the Feb. 14 council meeting.
Bryan Tony, co-founder of Dallas Housing Coalition, said his organization will keep an eye on the economic development proposition to “ensure those dollars actually go into developing housing, reaching lower Area Median Income levels to meet Dallas’ most acute need for affordable housing and increasing the number of affordable units built into each project.”
“We believe how our elected officials decide to invest bond dollars reflects the City’s priorities,” Tony told CandysDirt.com after the Valentine’s Day bond discussion. “We are in a worsening housing crisis with a rental housing shortage that is projected to more than double by 2030 and begin impacting households earning up to 80 percent of Dallas’ AMI, according to the Child Poverty Action Lab.”
The final bond numbers weren’t a surprise, as council members revealed their priorities during a straw vote in late January.
“Unfortunately, people are losing the ability to afford to live in Dallas, close to their jobs, parks, and retail, and we are missing out on a chance to grow Dallas’ tax base through strategic housing investments,” Tony said. “We will likely have to push for even more bond dollars for housing in future bond programs or a standalone affordable housing bond.”
Sycamore Strategies Offered Tax Credits For West End Lofts On Elm Street
The Dallas City Council also showed some Valentine’s Day love by approving a resolution of support for Sycamore Strategies to build West End Lofts using 9 percent housing tax credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
The development at 805 Elm Street is within a mile of the Cabana Design District Apartment Homes, another tax-credit project at 899 North Stemmons Freeway.
Sycamore Strategies developer Zach Krochtengel is also redeveloping the old Cabana Hotel and has a multifamily project in Lake Highlands called Cypress Creek at Forest Lane.
The $92 million West End project will have 160 units, with 48 studios, 64 one-bedroom, 42 two-bedroom, and six three-bedroom units.
Public Facility Corporation Project Approved on Ash Lane
The Dallas City Council agreed this month to authorize the Dallas Public Facility Corporation to acquire, develop, and own Santa Fe Trail at Haskell at 4000 Ash Lane.
District 12 Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn routinely votes against PFC projects, criticizing the 75-year lease agreement that takes the project off the tax rolls. An estimated revenue foregone of about $2.6 million was noted in the lease agreement with Larkspur Capital for the Ash Drive project.
Affordable housing developers and council members who support PFC projects have emphasized that no one is creating such affordable projects without incentives and there is high demand for affordable housing in Dallas.
The Santa Fe Trail at Haskell project will include 240 units, half of which will be affordable.
Mendelsohn voted against the project.
