Dallas City Council members received a staff briefing Wednesday on ways the city could increase the supply of affordable homes.
That briefing came after two-and-a-half hours of public comment and hours of discussion on the bond election.
The potential zoning reforms could make it easier for developers to build homes, by reducing minimum lot sizes and allowing multiplexes in single-family neighborhoods. But council members reminded residents that no actionable proposal is on the table.
The City Plan Commission, which makes recommendations to council on planning and zoning matters, would discuss a proposal to modify regulations before a Dallas City Council vote.
The city’s housing and homelessness solutions committee was divided when it discussed reforms at a December meeting, where dozens of residents opposed and supported the reforms.
The briefings from staff follow a November five-signature memo from Dallas City Council member Chad West, asking the city to explain the process and describe potential effects of amending the development and building codes. Council members Adam Bazaldua, Jaime Resendez, Jaynie Schultz and Paula Blackmon also signed on to the memo.
Child Poverty Action Lab data
At the meeting on Wednesday, West said he hoped the discussion would be a good opportunity to explore these options. He asked for the zoning reform discussion to move to the City Plan Commission for further development before returning to the full council.
“Homeownership is less and less attainable,” West said. “We’ve seen the Child Poverty Action Lab data shows that our rental need is very great in the city. So in my mind, the only options that we have on the table to consider, we should be considering.”
Dallas-based Child Poverty Action Lab is a research-focused nonprofit that is dedicated to fighting and ending childhood poverty.
Andrea Gilles, Dallas’ interim director of Planning and Urban Design, and Andreea Udrea, the department’s assistant director, presented an overview of zoning regulations that have emerged in other cities, as well as possible paths forward for Dallas and potential effects the reforms could have on the city’s housing supply.
The city’s 18 residential districts are defined based on lot size, including single-family areas, with lot sizes ranging from 5,000 square feet to a full acre. The districts have constraints like density caps, set-back requirements and use restrictions.
“It’s not a welcoming code to different types of housing,” Udrea said, adding that the current zoning regulations have barriers that make it more difficult to build housing.
City staff shared several options to change the code, including adding accessory dwelling units, or homes often built in backyards, and allowing infill development of “context-sensitive” multiplexes in single-family neighborhoods.
‘No single solution’
“There is no single solution,” Udrea said. “Areas in transition can be very well stabilized by offering housing options.”
Other cities are using these reforms to allow the development of different housing types that often have diverse price points and increase gentle density, according to Udrea.
Changing the minimum lot sizes would require more effort by city staff because it affects all parts of development.
“We think it is a longer-term type of conversation. So when we touch the lot size, we need to look at the code comprehensively,” Udrea said.
More than a dozen residents spoke in favor of land use reforms at the meeting, including developers, academic researchers, housing advocates and faith leaders.
“Housing is a human right,” said Rev. Roy Atwood, associate minister of community at First United Methodist Church Dallas, who spoke in support of the bond program’s housing funds and zoning reform.
‘A safe place to sleep’
“Every single citizen of this city deserves the stability of having a roof over their head and a safe place to sleep at night,” he said. “Unfortunately, due to the high cost of housing in Dallas, too many of our neighbors are homeless or at risk of homelessness.”
Matt Hinterlong, a Dallas-based residential developer, said the reforms on the table are the best no-cost solutions to increasing much-needed development.
“Dallas needs affordable housing,” Hinterlong said. “We need to remove zoning requirements and promote density and alternative housing types in the city. The national average home cost used to be under $300,000. Now it is well over $400,000 in just the last five years.”
A few residents spoke out against zoning reforms, citing a desire to keep single-family neighborhoods intact with the same form and aesthetic.
Homeowners say their strongest opposition is directed toward by-right development, which allows developers to build housing without a public zoning hearing as long as the housing follows the code.
“By-right is a deal-breaker,” Dallas resident Ed Zahra said. “What this actually does is take our residents’ right to a hearing on the matter away … The city cannot cherry-pick lots and inject a new by-right zoning without changing all of the existing zoning.”
