Builders of Hope Creates Property Tax Relief Program to Keep West Dallas Residents in Their Legacy Homes 

Builders of Hope and their partners have been conducting community engagement in West Dallas for over a year asking neighbors what kind of assistance they need to stay in the legacy homes that have been in their families for generations. The answer they get most frequently is property tax relief. 

Stephanie Champion, an attorney and chief community development and policy officer for Builders of Hope, sat down with CEO James Armstrong to do what they do best: help Dallas residents remain Dallas residents.  

Builders of Hope launched a pilot program this month that will freeze the property tax liability to the amount participants paid in 2020. Property valuations have increased rapidly in West Dallas over the past few years, and the program is designed to help legacy homeowners struggling to keep up, Champion said.

“We have a housing crisis across the city but we’re seeing the most extreme and rapid rise of valuations and taxes in West Dallas,” Champion said. “Where it’s having the most harmful impact on vulnerable communities is in West Dallas.” 

Building on Private Investment 

Champion said about $150,000 is available now from the Dallas Foundation, Trinity Park Conservancy, JP Morgan Chase, and the Lukirain Partners Fund at the Dallas Foundation. Builders of Hope aims to raise $1 million for the pilot program. Applications can be submitted online.

Champion is doing media interviews in English and Spanish to publicize the program and will roll out a social media campaign and a grassroots “ground game” outreach effort with community partners at Wesley-Rankin Community Center. 

“We will be doing community events, meetings, and door-to-door outreach,” Champion said. 

The timing of the pilot program is no coincidence. A “renaissance of park development” is occurring with Southern Gateway Park, Trinity Park Conservancy’s Harold Simmons Park, and Fair Park, Armstrong pointed out. 

“We know that these significant investments will lead to an increase in property values for nearby residents,” he said. “We hope this pilot program will be a case study on how to protect legacy residents while nearby areas are receiving significant private investment.” 

Those eligible for the program should be homeowners prior to 2014 and have lived in the 75212 ZIP code for at least 10 years or inherited a home from an immediate family member who has lived in the area for 10 years or more. Eligible residents must not exceed 80 percent of the Area Median Income. 

“Priority is given to cost-burdened households that have lived in the area for over 20 years in homes built before 2012,” Armstrong said. 

It gives West Dallas residents an option to remain in the neighborhood they lived in prior to the oppressive tax increases, the Builders of Hope CEO explained. 

“I think the impact of this program is that it equips residents with an option,” Armstrong said. “We know that this is not just a West Dallas issue. We hope this pilot program in West Dallas will be a model for many other neighborhoods, specifically on the heels of significant private investment.”

West Dallas Pilot Program 

Armstrong emphasized that the program is data-informed. In 2017, West Dallas residents saw significant property value increases. In some cases, the increase was more than 300 percent. Values jumped again in 2020. 

Builders of Hope worked with the Child Poverty Action Lab to identify households through a targeted approach “so we know exactly where the money is going.” 

The data on homeowner and renter affordability that Builders of Hope is using in the development of its anti-displacement toolkit is staggering. 

“It highlights the shrinking affordability,” Armstrong said. “I think those statistics are a story by itself.” 

We agree, so stay tuned for that. CandysDirt.com touched on it briefly in a story about the barriers to homeownership for people of color, but we’ll be following the anti-displacement toolkit as it rolls out in the fall. 

Excited, Grateful, And Proud

The Builders of Hope team is “excited, grateful, and proud” to offer the pilot program to West Dallas legacy residents, Champion said. 

“Of course, we know this is not the end-all solution to keeping people in their homes,” she said. “It has to be part of a comprehensive and multifaceted strategy. Lowering the property tax burden for low-income homeowners looks like some kind of monetary relief. It also looks like education and outreach to make sure they understand what exemptions they might qualify for, helping them apply for those exemptions, and helping them understand how and when to protest their appraisal valuations when the time comes. It’s part of a much larger strategy around property taxes and a much larger strategy around neighborhood stabilization and preservation.” 

They also need help from community partners. Champion said developers will be asked to pitch into the West Dallas pilot program when they are looking to build in the area. 

“When they are coming in seeking any type of zoning change or entitlement from the City of Dallas and need that community support, we’re going to ask them to contribute to this fund,” she said. “That’s part of how we make sure that new development is equitable and responsive to the existing community, that we have a mechanism to make sure we are mitigating the harmful impact that is happening.”