A 2012 file photo shows the inside of a unit at CityWalk@Akard, an affordable housing project in downtown Dallas.The city operates 13 programs aimed at increasing access to affordable housing, especially in southern Dallas neighborhoods beset by deteriorating housing stock and years of underinvestment. So roughly four years ago, the city approved aset administrative rules and also identified major housing disparities between northern and southern Dallas neighborhoods.
At the risk of watching the city repeat past mistakes — approving a plan and then not acting on it — we are optimistic that ais valuable. The Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee is expected to approve the recommendations of TDA Consulting later this month and send it to the full City Council for a vote next month.
The critiques and recommendations are on point. One recommendation calls for tracking all of the goals of the comprehensive housing policy with a detailed assessment of southern Dallas’ infrastructure deficits and also tie those goals to neighborhood revitalization strategies. In other words, it would force accountability and a way to measure progress.