In the heart of northeast Dallas lies Vickery Meadow, a diverse and vibrant multifamily neighborhood inhabited by immigrants and refugees from around the globe.
Nowhere in Dallas is there a neighborhood comparable to Vickery Meadow, which has evolved and adapted over time to meet the very specific and sensitive needs of its immensely diverse and incredibly vulnerable population.
In neighborhoods like Vickery Meadow where there are such high concentrations of extremely vulnerable residents, rising housing costs can have profound impacts on families.
Conversations with residents and community leaders reveal a deep-seated anxiety permeating the neighborhood. The fear of being priced out of their homes is a constant and growing worry that extends beyond individual families and threatens the very fabric of the community. Housing instability undermines the social cohesion and support networks that residents rely on, networks built over years of shared experiences and mutual aid.
Nowhere in Dallas is there a neighborhood comparable to Vickery Meadow, which has evolved and adapted over time to meet the very specific and sensitive needs of its immensely diverse and incredibly vulnerable population. As Vickery Meadow continues to develop, it is imperative that it does so in an equitable, inclusive, and sustainable manner, lest we lose it altogether. To preserve the people, the culture, and the very essence of this treasured Dallas community, developers must consider Vickery Meadow’s existing residents and prioritize their needs and desires in all future development decisions. Likewise, local government officials must reasonably facilitate this process through public policy and programs that appropriately regulate and incentivize community-oriented development in the area, such as the preservation and construction of long-term and deeply affordable housing. Only then can we ensure that Vickery Meadow remains the diverse and vibrant community it is today, one where immigrants and refugees can continue to live and thrive and contribute to our city’s rich cultural history and fabric.
The area was first developed in the 1970s as a companion to The Village, an apartment community originally conceived as a residential community for Dallas’ young and single. That vision was short-lived because, in 1988, familial status was added as a protected class to the Fair Housing Act, prohibiting landlords from discriminating against families with children. This, in tandem with a recession in the rental market, led to an abrupt departure of residents and then neighborhood decline as the area experienced depressed rents, high vacancy rates, and spikes in crime.
Affordable rents, availability of units, and proximity to public transit made the area attractive to newly arriving immigrants and refugees in the late eighties and early nineties. Waves of families seeking refuge from conflict, persecution, and poverty would find their way to Vickery Meadow, bringing with them their languages, cultures, and cuisines, and transforming the area into a safe haven for migrant families.
However, the built environment of the neighborhood was never meant for them. Families of four or more were crammed into small units intended for one or two people. Apartment complexes were built back-to-back, with little or no green space for children to play. Migrant families are often among the most socially vulnerable groups of any city or community; their vulnerability is compounded across numerous characteristics including income, race and ethnicity, education, housing stability, and language barriers. As the migrant population grew, it became easier for property owners and landlords to exploit their vulnerability, allowing substandard and even slum-like living conditions to persist throughout the neighborhood. Despite these poor housing conditions, Vickery Meadow families endured and made a home and genuine community out of an aging, ill-fitting, and repurposed neighborhood.
Over time, the neighborhood grew to meet the needs of its new residents. A robust network of nonprofit service organizations emerged, and more schools were opened to serve Vickery Meadow’s students and families. In 2021, the neighborhood finally got its first and much-anticipated public library. However, these positive gains may push out the very residents they were designed to serve, as development interests and activity in the neighborhood fail to consider the needs of its vulnerable population.
In 1993, a group of property owners in the area banded together to create a Public Improvement District (PID), a designated area in which property owners elect to pay an additional tax to fund specific public improvements and services that directly benefit the district.
The PID also advocates on behalf of property owners within the district to secure additional funding from the City of Dallas and other public entities. This advocacy contributed to the City’s creation of the Vickery Meadow Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District in 2006. The Vickery Meadow TIF District was established to facilitate the creation of a “catalyst” mixed-used development, The Shops at Park Lane, and to stimulate redevelopment activities of a “functionally and structurally obsolete commercial and rental residential area,” a biting characterization of the neighborhood that sheds light onto how it was perceived by city officials at the time.
When it was completed in 2009, The Shops at Park Lane included 585 new apartment units and over a million square feet of retail and office space. Yet, despite receiving $33 million in public subsidy from the TIF District, none of the units were set-aside as affordable for existing Vickery Meadow residents. Instead, the developer paid a ‘fee in lieu’ of a mere $1 million “to support the development of affordable housing within the District.” Unfortunately, the neighborhood would never see a penny of that money, with nearly half of it being allocated to a federal community planning grant in 2011 and the remainder being transferred to a citywide housing trust fund in 2018.
TIF districts are created and predicated on the assumption of rising property values within a given area due to increased development activity. Rising property values are accompanied by rising housing costs including property taxes and rents, both of which threaten to displace vulnerable residents from their homes. Without specific designated community benefits such as affordable housing set-asides or incentives for small and resident-owned businesses, TIF districts can create much more harm than benefit for existing residents and exacerbate displacement pressures. Today, the Vickery Meadow community finds itself under an ever-increasing threat of displacement and housing insecurity as rents escalate at unsustainable rates, in large part due to the intended catalytic impact of the TIF District’s signature project.
A Right To Stay
For Vickery Meadow and neighborhoods with similar profiles, we recommend the following anti-displacement strategies:
Enhanced Legal Protections for Tenants
Affordable Housing Preservation Network
Right Priced Affordable Housing Policy
Funding for Tenant and Community Organizing
