An Update on our Dallas Anti-Displacement Toolkit
We’ve Been Quiet Because We’ve Been Listening.
Over the last two years Builders of Hope Community Development Corporation has been working with support from JPMorgan Chase Foundation and The Dallas Foundation to develop an anti-displacement toolkit to inform housing policy for the city of Dallas.
We've hosted city-wide open houses, numerous neighborhood listening sessions, knocked on over 1,000 doors and surveyed more than 400 Dallas residents impacted by rising housing costs and neighborhood change across the city.
We've also spent countless hours gathering and analyzing data in order to make specific, data-informed policy recommendations.
The Dallas anti-displacement toolkit will launch late this summer, and based on what we have heard and seen, action can’t come soon enough.
In 2012, a typical home owning Dallas family earned $42,000 per year and could afford 44% of the homes sold that year.
Just a decade later, in 2022, a typical home owning Dallas family earned $64,000 per year but could only afford 12% of the homes sold that year.
If this trend continues we estimate less than 2% of homes in Dallas will be affordable for families earning the median Dallas income in 2032
When we look at the rental households, the numbers paint a far bleaker picture. Dallas has one of the lowest homeownership rates of major American cities, with just 42% of residents owning a home. This is particularly concerning given that families vulnerable to displacement are far more likely to be renters than homeowners.
So looking at the rental market in Dallas, in 2012 a typical renter household in Dallas earned about $32,200 and could afford nearly 50% of the apartments for rent in the city.
In 2022, the typical renter household income increased to $51,600, but they could only afford roughly 30% of the apartments for rent in the city.
And if the trend of diminishing rental affordability continues, by 2032 as few as 21% of rentals could be affordable to the typical Dallas renter household. This is particularly concerning given that families most vulnerable to displacement are far more likely to be renters than homeowners.
The Dallas anti-displacement toolkit aims to create lasting and impactful policy change within the City of Dallas that ensures that:
Vulnerable residents in historically marginalized communities have the right to stay and the opportunity to return to their neighborhoods in the face of rapid development and rising housing costs.
Over time, opportunities remain for new low-income residents to move into the community.
All residents, but especially those most vulnerable to displacement have a meaningful role in shaping the future of their neighborhoods.
Our goal is that armed with this toolkit, the Dallas City Council will pass housing policy that protects vulnerable residents from direct displacement, preserve and construct affordable housing that is appropriately targeted to existing and future vulnerable residents, and build and resource community power to promote neighborhood self determination.
Sign up to receive a copy of the toolkit once it is released and learn how you can help advocate for robust housing policy changes.