No One Wants Homeless Housing on Hampton Road But Will City Council Keep, Use, or Sell?

A couple of years ago, the Dallas City Council bought a former Oak Cliff hospital for $6.5 million to be repurposed as permanent supportive housing for the homeless. Southwest Dallas residents left no room for confusion when they told their District 3 council member Zarin Gracey, and Casey Thomas before him, that they don’t want the former University General Hospital building at 2929 S. Hampton Road used to house the unsheltered.

City Council Members Debate Housing Options For Former Hospital at 2929 South Hampton Road

But there’s a problem. The property was purchased with voter-approved bond funds designated for permanent supportive housing, and the City also probably overpaid for the building, council members said during a Dec. 10 meeting of the Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee. 

Following a brief discussion and a closed-door session to talk about real estate matters — including the appraised value of the Hampton Road property, the committee took no action. In a Dec. 10 memorandum, Assistant City Manager Alina Ciocan asked for guidance from the council on the future of the property, advising that they can keep it for its established public purpose, use it for another public purpose, or sell it. 

To Sell or Not to Sell 

At last week’s committee meeting, Gracey and Far North Dallas Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn repeated statements they’ve said before. 

“I’m not going to draw this out,” Gracey said. “You all know my position. I’ve stated this for a while. I think in January is when I sent my first proposal recommending that we sell this property. I wish we would have come to this conclusion a lot sooner. Colleagues, I really would appreciate your support in selling this property and particularly moving forward in a [request for proposals] format.”

Mendelsohn has been critical of the process and said last week she doesn’t see a workable path forward. 

“Not only have there been extensive community meetings, we’ve hired consultants to [hold more] meetings,” she said. “The community does not want this. At some point we have to ask City Hall, do we actually listen to our communities? If we do, and if that’s the answer — and I hope it is the answer because we’re here to serve them — it’s not the right property in the right place.”

Independence Drive

Mendelsohn said she supports the sale of 2929 S. Hampton Road but wants to ensure the proceeds are used to “finish unfinished projects,” such as a $4.5 million site also in Gracey’s district, 4150 Independence Drive. 

Zarin Gracey Is Still Fighting for Homeless Supportive Housing in His District

“We literally kicked out people and made them homeless to create housing for people who were homeless and [now] no one lives there,” Mendelsohn said. “It is just absolutely shocking that we’re on year 2.5, almost three. Please use that funding to finish [the Independence] project.”

Staff confirmed that about 103 units are available at the Independence Drive site and just one potential developer responded to a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) on the project. This is the third time the project has been advertised, said Assistant Housing Director Darwin Wade. 

If it’s determined that the City can’t move forward with the only interested developer, recommendations could be made to demolish the building or “issue some other type of proposal for other types of mixed-income housing,” Wade said. Council members learned during last week’s meeting that Dallas County has possibly pulled funding that was previously committed to the project. 

Gracey said the people in his district are waiting for their basic housing needs to be met while the City is “sitting on solutions.” 

“I’m asking that we get out there and we begin providing services to those folks,” he said. 

Funding Tied to Bond Funds

Preston Hollow Councilmember Gay Donnell Willis has repeatedly questioned whether it’s ethical to sell a property that was intended for a particular use. There also appeared to be a consensus that the Hampton Road building is no longer valued at $6.5 million so Dallas would have to sell it for less than they paid. Such transactions are discussed behind closed doors, so it’s unclear how much of a financial loss is being considered. 

“When we talk about selling something that was purchased with bond funds, that’s a covenant with the taxpayers,” Willis said.

“I don’t think they would want us to take a loss on something that we bought with bond dollars,” she said. “This has been one of the issues in having this discussion. It’s not just cut and dried. Serving the community means serving the whole community of 1.3 million people. I worry about the faith that taxpayers will have in future years about passing a bond and having fits and starts on purchasing property and then selling it at a loss.”

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Mendelsohn said she thinks the City overpaid for the building and “that’s why we’re still here.”

“I think maybe we did overpay and staff and council who voted for it, which I did also, don’t want to admit that we overpaid for it. We’re just going to have to say, ‘You know what? There was a misstep. It happened. We’re going to correct it.’ Are the taxpayers concerned? Well, maybe they need to be more concerned with what’s happening at City Hall.”