Cara Mendelsohn

Dallas Officials Say Federally Funded Housing Programs Are Too Challenging For Developers

By April Towery / December 4, 2023 /

Dallas City Council members last month reviewed a pair of development programs used to spur affordable mixed-income housing throughout the city in the hopes that City Council will authorize changes to make the initiatives more developer-friendly.  The programs are complicated and the funds are restricted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines.…

Renter Protection, Homeless Shelter Funding Among Dallas’ Legislative Priorities in Upcoming Session

By April Towery / November 29, 2023 /

Housing-related state legislative priorities for the 2025 session include protecting rental subsidies from landlord discrimination, tenant protection from “junk fees,” and funding for emergency homeless shelters. Director of Government Affairs Carrie Rogers reviewed state and federal legislative priorities during a Nov. 14 meeting of the City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee.  Rogers pointed out…

Office of Homeless Solutions Fine-Tunes AIDS Healthcare Foundation Housing Pilot Program

By April Towery / November 23, 2023 /

The Dallas Office of Homeless Solutions proposed a pilot program in September that would house the homeless in partnership with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, costing the city about $3 million.  A location for the housing development in City Council District 6, selected by the AHF, is already operational. City staff recommended partnering on the existing…

Three Panels Are Reviewing Dallas’ City-Owned Real Estate, But There’s no Strategic Vision

By April Towery / November 21, 2023 /

City officials have again promised a “deep dive” into plans for repurposing 50,000 acres of city-owned real estate, but they don’t have a strategic vision, and three different panels are evaluating the assets.  Those three panels — the Trust for Public Land, the Ad Hoc Committee on Pensions, and the Dallas Economic Development Corporation —…

Study Shows That Dallas Has a Lot of Housing, But it Also Has a Lot of Poverty

By April Towery / November 18, 2023 /

Following a Tuesday review and discussion of the Child Poverty Action Lab’s study on the Dallas rental market, members of the Dallas City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee came to a couple of conclusions. The city has a lot of housing opportunities, but it also has a lot of poverty.  The committee, chaired by…