Dallas Council Approves Converting 2929 Wycliff Into Partially Affordable Housing 

Adding an affordability component to an existing multifamily development at 2929 Wycliff Ave. could have been an easy approval, as Dallas leaders have repeatedly acknowledged the need for more housing options. But after more than an hour of debate at a Dallas City Council meeting earlier this month, it became clear that elected officials aren’t willing to rubber stamp tax-abatement projects without proper vetting. 

The 284-unit complex, known as 2929 Wycliff Apartments, is already established in Oak Lawn, but developers with Dallas-based CAF Capital Partners proposed that the Dallas Housing Finance Corp. acquire and own the property, granting a 15-year tax break to the lessee in exchange for providing affordable units. 

The proposal outlines that at least 27 units would be reserved for households earning less than 60% of Area Median Income, 114 units would be designated for households earning less than 80% of AMI, and the remaining 143 units would be offered at market-rate rents. 

According to Zillow, market rates for apartments at 2929 Wycliff range from $1,430 for a 621-square-foot unit to $2,844 for a 1,635-square-foot two-bedroom.

Under the Housing Finance Corp. regulatory agreement, the developer has to provide at least $40,000 in social services, CAF Capital Partners representative Matt Falkin said. The plan calls for UT Southwestern to offer nutrition and culinary medicine programs to at least 30 Wycliff tenants. UTSW would provide scholarships that include free housing for recipients. 

The project was narrowly approved 7-6 with Councilmember Paul Ridley and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem absent. 

Watch the Nov. 13 Dallas City Council meeting here. 

Mixed-Income Housing

Falkin said Dallas is at a crossroads with affordable housing. 

“As we lead the nation in growth, we can either act now to preserve affordability in high-opportunity areas or follow the path of many of our peer cities such as Miami, Chicago, and Seattle, where housing challenges have become nearly impossible to solve,” he said. 

Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn expressed concern about the project. Traditionally the Housing Finance Corp. administers Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects, or federal incentives designed to encourage private developers to build or rehabilitate affordable rental housing for low-income residents. But the Wycliff project isn’t LIHTC, it doesn’t offer 100% affordability, and it could cost the city $4.7 million in property taxes over a 15-year period. 

Aaron Eaquinto, general manager of the Dallas HFC, acknowledged the project is “a little outside the norm.” 

“You are not able to build 100% affordable projects inside high-opportunity areas in the city center,” he said. “Because of the costs of land and the costs of building new projects, you cannot make it happen from the ground up in these high-opportunity areas. The only option we have left is to buy something and then convert it to affordability. With the financial tools we have, the best we can do is 50%.”

Mixed-income stratified projects are beneficial, Eaquinto added, so low-income housing is not concentrated in particular areas. 

Moving Forward with 2929 Wycliff Ave.

Ridley, who represents Oak Lawn, was at a National League of Cities conference last week and was not present at the Nov. 13 council meeting. Councilmember Jesse Moreno, whose district is adjacent to Oak Lawn, supported the project but had reservations.

“It’s going to have a great mix of affordability,” he said. “Quite honestly I’m a little frustrated when we have certain projects that we try to push through and others that we criticize.” 

Moreno later said he didn’t love this deal but it meets the criteria set forth in the HFC guidelines. 

The council member said the purpose of an Oct. 29 Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee workshop on Housing Finance Corp. and Public Facility Corp. bylaws was to prevent sending mixed signals to developers. 

Green Light: Tax Credit Housing Projects Will Continue Despite Bylaw Scrutiny

“And unfortunately we’re having these conversations today,” he said. “What I’m going to do is, at our follow-up [housing committee] meeting, give clear direction to staff so that they’re able to disseminate that to our developers, our partners, so they have a clear vision on what we’re looking for. The investment of potentially losing $2 million in earnest money today is not the message we want to send to our private partners.” 

Councilmember Chad West asked a lot of questions — some of which didn’t get answered — and noted that the Wycliff project caught his attention because it offers both tax abatements and tax-exempt revenue bonds for housing that already exists and is priced at market rate.

West, who voted against the project, told CandysDirt.com after the meeting that he wanted the council to work through the project and “put all the cards on the table,” understanding the repercussions upfront, rather than delaying it to avoid making a tough decision.

“Council will scrutinize these types of deals much more closely than brownfield development sites,” West said in a newsletter to constituents Monday.

While there was some pressure from the developer to move quickly to avoid killing the deal, council members also expressed a need to create guardrails and policies for future HFC deals. 

“I pulled this item because only half the units are at an affordable rate and yet we’re taking a property off our tax rolls and losing $252,000 a year in revenue to our city,” Mendelsohn said. “We did have a wonderful HHS meeting and at that meeting, I expressed concern that the HFC is acting like a [Public Facility Corporation] that only requires 50% to be affordable.

“The HFC has the ability to have 100% affordability and it does two things: it offers bonds to [produce] the housing and second, it could offer a tax abatement,” Mendelsohn added. “But to only offer half the units as affordable and provide both the bonds and 100% of a tax abatement is just far too much for what we’re getting … I think it’s not structured properly. We need to guard our tax revenue.”