Could a 2026 Fort Worth Bond Election Help Solve Cowtown’s Affordable Housing Crisis?
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Dallas voters will begin casting early ballots next week in a $1.25 billion bond election to address, among other things, affordable housing options and homelessness. Out west, city leaders are kicking around a Fort Worth bond election to address a similar crisis in Cowtown.
Relying on private investors to create affordable housing has been the modus operandi of many Texas municipalities. Developers are pushing back, saying they need incentives such as tax credits or Public Facility Corporation financing if they’re going to build affordable housing.
Kirk Presley, whose firm Ojala Partners secured one of the first PFC 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.”
Issuing Debt For Affordable Housing
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.
Lauren King, executive director of the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition, supported the idea of a bond program at an April 2 Fort Worth City Council workshop.
“I don’t know how we are, as a community, going to raise the capital if we don’t do some kind of bond,” King said, according to an April 7 article in the Fort Worth Report.
Fort Worth is the largest city in Texas not to have taken a housing-specific bond before voters, according to Neighborhood Development Specialist Chad LaRoque. Previous Fort Worth bond elections have covered things like infrastructure and public safety.
“Closing the housing affordability gap with new construction using public funding would cost between $1.7 billion for 19,000 units and $2.9 billion for 32,000 units, according to Fort Worth’s Neighborhood Conservation Plan and Housing Affordability Strategy,” the Fort Worth Report article states.
Fort Worth’s Neighborhood Services department, which oversees housing, has proposed $100 million in bond funds to support single-family housing, housing for people experiencing homelessness, and the city’s community land trust.
Fort Worth Bond Election
LaRoque addressed the City Council about the bond during the April 2 workshop. Local media reported last week that Neighborhood Services Director Victor Turner is on paid leave while Human Resources conducts an investigation. Citing personnel matters, the details of the investigation have not been disclosed.
LaRoque said Turner submitted a $100 million bond proposal for housing in the 2026 election.
“That would be capital funds for single-family for-sale housing and I believe also some for homelessness and the community land trust,” he said.
State law dictates how bond funds can be used. While Dallas has pledged $26.4 million toward housing in its May 4 bond, the city also is using an Economic Development proposition to address housing needs.
District 8 Councilman Chris Nettles emphasized that a category should be designated specifically for housing projects.
“I think we’ve done a good job in our bond packages as it relates to police, fire, and parks and rec,” he said. “I think this is just another tool we can use as it relates to housing. We’re the 13th largest city and we like to say the fastest-growing city. We’ve got to make sure we take care of our housing and our residents and make sure it is affordable to those who need it.”
Donna VanNess, president and CEO of The Housing Channel, also supported a 2026 housing bond.
“All the cities across the nation are talking about an affordable housing crisis,” she said. “Fort Worth has done a fabulous job of creating economic development opportunities [and] jobs. We really need to support that workforce with affordable housing.”
Councilman Jared Williams, who chairs the Neighborhood Revitalization and Quality Committee, said he wanted to continue discussions on a potential housing proposition.
“I think, especially on the homeownership side, this creates a catalyst to create generational opportunities for assets in a period when people are asset-limited,” he said. “This is an important investment in the residents of Fort Worth. I see a lot of upside potential to us considering this proposition.”
