Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson Wants America to ‘Build Baby Build’

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson told a U.S. Senate Committee that the solution to solving our shortage of affordably-priced homes lies with the private sector.

Johnson testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. He was invited by committee chair Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to share his frontline perspective on the nation’s housing shortage and possible solutions.

You can watch the hearing here, but here’s some highlights from the mayor’s comments:

‘Build Baby Build’

The mayor expressed his thoughts on the billions of dollars in federal taxpayer money that flow to municipalities to encourage the construction of affordable housing and subsidize low-income renters.

He said that such efforts, while appreciated, are not as efficient as the private sector at delivering housing in the needed quantity.

“I strongly believe that the most effective thing Congress can do to make housing more affordable for everyday Americans is not to create yet another federal program that pours billions of taxpayer dollars into subsidizing the already robust demand side of the housing equation,” he said.

Mayor Johnson also emphasized the need to target undeveloped land, not just in Dallas but nationally, and embrace a “build baby build” attitude.

“As a mayor, my job is to try to make Dallas as awesome as it can be and make the quality of life as high as it can be. The result of that, when I’m successful, is pressure on my housing market, because we’re not building enough houses,” he said.

He pointed to the persistent stream of new residents with money coming from states like California who are competing with local buyers and driving the price of housing up.

“We need the understanding of Congress that this is a problem that has to be attacked nationally because we’re just pushing the issue around,” Johnson said. “We really do need to have a ‘build baby build’ approach to housing … It’s not always about coming and asking for money, per se, in the form of a new program.”

On Homelessness

Johnson argued that Congress needs to “reframe the narrative” around homelessness and housing affordability to cut the perceived connection between the two.

Since 2021, Dallas has been pursuing a “housing first” approach to homelessness, working to directly connect unsheltered individuals with housing.

“Chronic homelessness is primarily a public health issue, but we’re not addressing it as such. It is not primarily a housing affordability issue, and it’s not even a public safety issue at its core,” Johnson said. “Although we can and should enforce local laws prohibiting camping in public spaces and in public buildings, we cannot arrest our way out of chronic homelessness.”

Still, Dallas has seen some significant gains in recent years on the issue. Housing Forward clocked a steep drop, claiming overall homelessness fell by 19% and unsheltered homelessness fell by 24% in Dallas County and Collin County since 2021.

Regardless, homelessness in the city remains a very visible issue made all the more pressing by local activists and public safety advocates, some of whom threaten to sue the city if it does not enforce its public camping ordinance and other policies.

‘Cut the Red Tape’

Mayor Johnson touted the city’s efforts to reduce barriers to housing construction by cutting permitting turnaround times, streamlining municipal bureaucracy, and collaborating with developers to boost housing stock.

As previously reported by CandysDirt.com, the city started seeing significant improvements after then-interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert merged the two departments that handled planning, zoning, and permitting separately into one in June 2024.

Dallas Planning and Development Department Rebounds with Improved Permit Turnaround

“Over the past few years, we’ve prioritized efficiency, and as a result, we slashed the median time to issue a residential building permit from 68 days in 2022 to just eight days in 2024,” Johnson said.

Johnson also stressed his belief that “government itself is not an effective housing developer,” arguing that its function during this housing crunch should be to “step aside, cut the red tape, and encourage the private sector to build more homes faster.”