Dallas Opens the Door to Low-Intensity Density
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A move by the Dallas City Council last month to amend its building code might help encourage the construction of small apartment buildings with up to eight units.
The amendment to the code was voted on during the city council’s April 23 meeting, with Council Member Paul Ridley (District 14) touting the change as a “transformative step” in reforming an “outdated” ordinance that counted all developments with more than two units as commercial projects.
“Our code today treats a four-plex the same as a 200-unit apartment building,” Ridley said, according to Dallas Observer. “That doesn’t make sense. It drives up construction costs and discourages the kinds of housing we say we want in Dallas.”
Developers have reportedly avoided building small-scale apartment buildings due to the complexities of the commercial code, opting to pursue either luxury projects or larger multifamily housing with a lot of units, which can yield a greater return on investment.
Phillip Kingston, a developer and former member of the city council, said Dallas has potentially lost out on thousands of units of housing due to this dynamic, according to Realtor.com.
The move to change the code comes as city leaders and staff look to increase housing density in Dallas in a bid to lower costs for renters, who comprise the majority of residents in the city. ForwardDallas 2.0, the city’s updated comprehensive land use plan, advises officials to pursue greater density in neighborhoods where it makes the most sense.
Ridley said the update to the building code brings it into greater alignment with ForwardDallas 2.0, Dallas Observer reported.
Still, some residents living in single-family neighborhoods have been wary of the density guidance, arguing that it could open the door to rezoning for apartment complexes that change the character of their neighborhoods.
An oft-cited report on the housing situation in Texas claims the Lone Star State is short some 300,000 housing units, a situation that has led many in the state legislature to consider various bills to encourage more building amid what’s being called an “affordability crisis.” Zooming out to the nation as a whole, the United States needs an additional 4 million or so homes.
“It is going to take many years to build out of this problem, given the size of the deficit,” Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale said, per Realtor.com.
Bills under consideration in Texas this legislative session would neutralize municipal regulations that limit lot sizes in new subdivisions, empower developers in certain scenarios to avoid seeking rezoning permission, and give property owners the ability to more easily construct accessory dwelling units.
Council Member Chad West (District 1), who supported the change to Dallas’ building code, said the city “needs every tool possible to address our affordable housing crisis,” per Dallas Observer.
