This comes after criticism against the city鈥檚 housing department in 2021 over inequitable access to housing resources. The new Dallas Housing Policy 2033 policy will align with the city鈥檚 racial equity focus, aim to include more community input and increase transparency, according to city officials.
But drafting a completely new policy that meets the city鈥檚 new equity guidelines comes at a high price.
David Noguera is the director of housing and neighborhood revitalization. He says the current city budget won鈥檛 be enough to meet the needs of the proposed policy.
After expected private sector funding Noguera says the city will still need to come up with around $400 million to fund implementation. He notes this is just 鈥渁 glimpse鈥� of what it would cost to address the proposed housing policy.
Noguera cited offhand two reports used to come up with the rough estimate. He says they show a 100,000-unit housing gap in the Dallas Fort-Worth area which he figures 20% is made up of Dallas. Other specific findings from the reports were not mentioned in the briefing.
鈥淎nd what we have to do as a city is identify what our goal is 鈥� what portion of that regional need do we want to address,鈥� Noguera said at Wednesday鈥檚 meeting.
The proposed policy also gives the city manager鈥檚 office increased authority to adjust housing program terms and approve projects under 100 units.
Council Member Cara Mendelsohn represents District 12. She says expanding the city manager鈥檚 control could undermine city governance when it comes to engagement with communities and public documents.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just about council authority,鈥� Mendelsohn said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lack of transparency and frankly it鈥檚 a lack of our job in oversight.鈥�
City council members will be briefed in committee meetings and full council meetings in the weeks to come before voting on the housing policy. The policy also aims to designated a taskforce made up of community members, city officials and key stakeholders.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Omar Narvaez says the city shouldn鈥檛 put cost before constituents.
鈥淭his is going to cost a lot of money,鈥� Narvaez said, 鈥淏ut we shouldn鈥檛 shy away from it. And we may not be able to do it all in the first five minutes.鈥�
鈥淵ou got to be thinking long term goals.鈥�
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter .
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