Instant Equity Homeownership Offered at New Builders of Hope Community in Farmers Branch
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Builders of Hope Community Development Corporation is branching out with a new affordable housing project that aims to allow legacy residents and low-to-middle-income buyers stay close to their jobs in Farmers Branch.
The Porches at Valwood Park is a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) project where Builders of Hope will construct new homes on empty city-owned lots in Farmers Branch.
The infill project brings “instant equity homeownership north of Interstate 30,” said Builders of Hope CEO James Armstrong.
The affordable single-family development is a partnership between Builders of Hope, the City of Farmers Branch, and Dallas County.
“What I’m most excited about, especially going into my sixth year at Builders of Hope, is that we build something that people are excited about and want to duplicate because of the impact we’ve been able to make,” Armstrong said.
When we caught up with Armstrong last week, he was in Oakland, Calif., receiving an honor for being one of just 30 African-American emerging developers in the U.S. making a difference in the realm of community development.
“We’re here to learn about the crisis of affordable housing in California and how we can prevent that in Dallas,” he said. “In Oakland, you have neighborhood after neighborhood that has been displaced. In San Francisco, five or six years ago, they said you needed $115,000 to be able to afford to live. We’re seeing some of that in Dallas but not to the extent of what you see in California.”
Branching Out to Farmers Branch
The City of Farmers Branch noticed the work that Builders of Hope is doing in western and southern Dallas and approached the CHDO with a need.
“In the neighborhood of Valwood Park, you have private developers coming in to buy homes for $200,000 to $300,000 and replacing them with McMansions valued at over half a million dollars,” Armstrong said. “The city saw that this could be a crisis and they reached out to us as thought leaders around neighborhood displacement and revitalization.”
Farmers Branch Mayor Terry Lynne wanted to create solutions that preserve housing for existing residents while promoting access to new housing opportunities.
Construction will have set parameters — square footage, price point, and targeted buyer income — to ensure the new homes are aligned with existing housing stock, Armstrong said.
“It’s a program that I think is a solution to revitalizing neighborhoods with aging housing stock,” he added.
Sales prices will start in the low $300,000s with down payment assistance available to buyers.
Builders of Hope is starting a pilot project with five homes but could build as many as 25 in the neighborhood, Armstrong said.
“We hope it will be a partnership with the city where the city will continue to make investments into the neighborhood and we can follow behind with new quality, attainable housing,” he said.
Construction starts in May with homes available by the fall.
Potential buyers are encouraged to go through BOH’s Home Ownership Center program. It offers wealth coaching and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-certified counseling that equips buyers with the necessary certifications for down payment assistance.
“Really the mission for this Valwood Park neighborhood is … how do we get to a point where we’re offering solutions that allow families to work where they live?” Armstrong said.
Builders of Hope And The Anti-Displacement Toolkit
As suburban cities attempt to tackle affordable, attainable housing, Builders of Hope is developing an anti-displacement toolkit to assist with those challenges.
The Dallas Neighborhood Anti-Displacement Toolkit will be released in April, Armstrong said. The methodology and research are complete, but Builders of Hope officials are still working on the narrative alongside Dallas staff.
“We hope and believe that it will be a model for how cities can go about passing policy with an anti-displacement lens,” Armstrong said. “We all know that market activity is going to do what it does with little to no concern about the variables that matter to us like legacy residents or whether someone can afford to live there. We hope there will be more intentionality behind how we develop our cities to ensure that legacy residents aren’t displaced and the social capital that has developed in these neighborhoods remains.”
