Home Repair Funds Requested by North Oak Cliff Residents Won’t be on May Bond Ballot

Housing advocates were disappointed that the Dallas City Council designated just $26.4 million for housing in the upcoming May bond election, but instead of getting mad, they’re going to get creative. 

Some District 1 residents in North Oak Cliff’s long-established neighborhoods such as Elmwood, Polk Vernon, Hampton Hills, West Kessler, Jimtown, Kidd Springs, and South Edgefield weren’t looking for more affordable housing options; they wanted to fix the homes they already inhabit.

Elmwood resident Christine Hopkins told CandysDirt.com in September that she’d pleaded with District 1 Councilman Chad West to dedicate $2 million for home repairs in District 1. Hopkins said it wasn’t important whether the funds came from the bond or the general fund. District 1 has 90,000 residents and only three or four are served each year through the Home Improvement and Preservation Program (HIPP). 

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District 6, represented by Councilman Omar Narvaez, procured a targeted “West Dallas Home Repair Program” using a surplus from a previous bond that was subsequently channeled into the Equity Capital Revitalization Fund. 

That eliminates the need for a Hunger Games-style competition for home repairs, Hopkins explained. 

A Path Forward For District 1 Home Repairs 

West outlined his plan in an email to residents, including Hopkins, noting that Dallas staff has said that they’re trying to facilitate too many varying efforts without an efficient process. 

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The City Council approved in March an amended Home Repair Program, which seeks to streamline services to offer three types of repairs: 

• Emergency Home Repair — up to $10,000 for an emergency situation
• Dallas Tomorrow Fund — up to $20,000 for exterior code violations
• Major Systems Repair — up to $24,000 for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and light structural

“This change allows Housing to manage applications more efficiently and repair homes in less time and for more homeowners,” West said. 

Instead of programming bond funding for home repairs, the council can use federal and general funds for senior citizens and “funding from the fee-in-lieu program and remaining funding for select geographies from the Targeted Repair Programs,” West said. 

“The fee-in-lieu program was one that I championed in my last council term, as the funds raised in that program are not tied to the restrictions imposed by [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development],” West said. “I’m excited to see them programmed toward home repair.”

Homeowner Response to Home Repair Program

Hopkins did not immediately reply to a request for an interview but has said previously that the city needs to put action behind the goals outlined in the West Oak Cliff Area Plan to protect family-owned minority businesses, preserve the affordability of neighborhoods, and prevent displacement. 

Of the HIPP program, Hopkins said the first-come, first-served application process wasn’t working. 

“If you are not at that building in line at the beginning of the day, camped out like you’re trying to get Taylor Swift tickets, then you’re not going to get money to help repair your home,” Hopkins told CandysDirt.com last year. “These are elderly and disabled people who you’re expecting to go there and try to rush to get in their application hoping that they get help. It’s just not the right kind of process, I don’t think, for the type of people who you’re trying to serve.”

West confirmed last week that he has not received any takers on his offer to join him and city staff for a planning call in late April to be part of the path forward in creating a better home repair program for District 1 residents. 

“I feel that the fiscally prudent way forward in supporting a more efficient and better-funded home repair program is to support staff’s plan to consolidate the programs, use HUD funding for the seniors, and fee-in-lieu proceeds for everyone else,” West said. “Our real challenge is getting folks in D1 to sign up for the program. In prior years, Housing staff has appeared at libraries and community centers in each council district, including the North Oak Cliff Library, with paper forms and has offered to go to the homes of seniors who are not mobile to help them with forms. And they are willing to do it again. We need to better promote these opportunities when the application process opens up in the fall.”

The seniors who regularly meet at Martin Weiss Rec Center, led by Mary Lou Paras and Teresita Delgado, have committed to hosting workshops for seniors in late summer, along with staff support, West said.