Protecting Vulnerable Residents From Direct Displacement
Goal 1A: Protecting Vulnerable Renters in Gentrifying Neighborhoods
i. Emergency Rental and Relocation Assistance Programs
The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated both the need for and effectiveness of emergency rental assistance to stabilize housing for families experiencing financial crises. Many low-income and vulnerable families who live paycheck to paycheck are just one crisis away from eviction and displacement. Emergency rental and relocation assistance programs provide direct relief to residents facing an immediate threat of eviction and help them avoid harmful disruptions in employment, education, and social networks. These programs can be structured to target or prioritize renters in gentrifying neighborhoods to advance displacement mitigation goals. Ideally, relocation assistance is coupled with case management services that work with impacted tenants to help them identify quality, affordable replacement housing within their existing neighborhoods, should they desire to stay. The City of Dallas currently prohibits the direct and involuntary displacement of residents from developments receiving public funding and requires developers to comply with the Uniform Relocation Act (URA), when applicable, but it has no program for tenants facing eviction in other situations such as gentrification-related displacement.
The City should adopt permanent rental assistance programs and stronger relocation policies – attached to dedicated funding – that provide comprehensive benefits to tenants displaced because of no-fault evictions in the private market as well as through publicly funded development activity.
ii. Enhanced Legal Protections for Vulnerable Tenants
Tenants have very limited rights under Texas state law, stacking the deck against them in any landlord/tenant disputes. Cities can help level the playing field by adopting enhanced legal protections for vulnerable residents, including mandatory tenant protections in all rental properties receiving city subsidies or incentives, adopting a citywide tenant right-to-organize ordinance, and funding the provision of legal and mediation support for vulnerable tenants facing eviction.
Legal protections such as: 1) requiring good cause for evictions and lease nonrenewals, 2) advance notice requirements of termination and rent increases, 3) opportunities to cure alleged lease violations, 4) the elimination of junk fees, and 5) organizing protections (see more below) can help reduce the displacement of renters living in multifamily complexes with rising rents or slated for redevelopment. Other Texas cities like Austin and San Antonio have taken measures to require robust tenant protections including those listed above in various city-subsidized or incentivized programs. Unfortunately, Dallas has not incorporated these protections into any of its housing programs.
The City of Dallas should mandate that all rental properties seeking any type of city support, including but not limited to subsidies, tax abatements, zoning entitlements, and letters of support for Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects, utilize a standard lease addendum that incorporates, at minimum, all of the protections listed above.
While tenants in Texas have an implicit right to organize under the Texas Property Code,28 the protection against retaliation offered by state law is often abused by landlords and time-limited to six months. Having an affirmative right to organize that is explicitly outlined and codified in local municipal law can ease tenant fears and trepidation regarding retaliation and can also suppress intimidation tactics often utilized by landlords. While Dallas has an anti-retaliation ordinance on the books, it does not include the right to organize and mostly mirrors state law. Meanwhile, the City of Austin passed an ordinance in 2022 codifying and strengthening this right and explicitly barring landlord retaliation for specific activities like working with third parties and using common areas on the property to meet. Protecting and promoting tenants’ right to organize is a critical tool in mitigating displacement and preventing abuses by landlords, including constructive and mass evictions.
The City of Dallas should adopt an ordinance explicitly affirming and protecting the rights of tenants to organize.
For tenants who find themselves facing eviction, research has consistently shown that they are far more likely to prevail in court when they have legal representation. Unfortunately, the majority of tenants face trial alone or not at all, stacking the odds even further in the landlords’ favor. Providing legal assistance to tenants in eviction proceedings can significantly reduce the number of evictions and the extent of direct displacement taking place in gentrifying neighborhoods. The City of Dallas’ Eviction Assistance Initiative (DEAI), offered through the Office of Equity and Inclusion and funded through federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, has assisted over 900 Dallas households since its inception in 2022. Conducting on-site intake at Justice of the Peace courts and through a dedicated eviction hotline, the program can successfully reach vulnerable tenants prior to their hearings, saving many of them from unnecessary, and oftentimes illegal, evictions.
The City should find and allocate funding to establish the DEAI as a permanent city program to serve vulnerable tenants facing eviction.
Local philanthropic organizations such as the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center (spotlighted below) can support similar initiatives to reach vulnerable tenants who may be barred from federally funded programs due to income or immigration status.
*SPOTLIGHT ON* Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center
The Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center (DEAC) was founded in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to address the unmet legal needs of Dallas tenants facing unlawful evictions. Funded entirely by private philanthropic dollars, DEAC serves all Dallas residents in need of assistance, regardless of income or immigration status that might preclude them from other federally funded programs such as Legal Aid and the Dallas Eviction Assistance Initiative mentioned above. The DEAC boasts a 97% success rate in helping vulnerable tenants stay in their homes through the provision of high-quality, pro bono legal services and representation.
Goal 1B: Protecting Vulnerable Homeowners in Gentrifying Neighborhoods
iii. Neighborhood Stabilization Voucher Program
Cities can create local voucher programs targeted towards vulnerable residents in specific gentrifying neighborhoods to fund the gap between market rate rents in the area and what low-income renters can afford to pay. Local voucher programs can be layered on top of existing voucher programs such as federal Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) – also referred to as “Section 8” – which are in short supply in relation to the need and cannot keep pace with market rents in many neighborhoods. Local voucher programs can provide longer-term relief to renters facing displacement and allow them to remain in their neighborhoods as rents rise. Washington, D.C., and Denver, CO, are examples of cities that have implemented local voucher programs.
The City of Dallas and local nonprofit organizations can independently or collaboratively create neighborhood-based voucher programs to mitigate the displacement of legacy residents in gentrifying neighborhoods.
iv. Community Preference (“Right to Return”) Policy
Community Preference or “right to return” policies are useful tools in mitigating indirect displacement in target neighborhoods. When a vulnerable family is displaced from their home, they need not be displaced from their neighborhood and community altogether, if there are adequate affordable units available to them in the area. A Community Preference Policy gives priority placement for affordable units within a neighborhood or target area to low-income applicants who have been displaced from their neighborhoods, are currently at-risk of displacement, or are descendants of displaced residents. This allows legacy residents and their families to continue to benefit from the social and cultural capital of the communities they call home, in addition to the new investments being made in the area. When crafted appropriately, Community Preference Policies can redress prior racial injustices, further displacement mitigation goals, and help stabilize rapidly gentrifying communities. If structured improperly, however, a preference policy may illegally restrict housing choices for people of color or other protected classes under the Fair Housing Act and perpetuate residential segregation. Thus, implementing agencies must take care in appropriately crafting such policies to comply with federal law.
Cities such as San Francisco, CA, and Portland, OR, have adopted preference policies to address the harmful impacts of past discriminatory practices and to prioritize residents directly or indirectly impacted by displacement. Individual organizations can adopt internal policies as well. Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation (GNDC) in Austin utilizes a preference policy to advance its goal of serving vulnerable residents with long-term ties to its service area of East Austin.
The City of Dallas should adopt a Community Preference Policy for all city-subsidized or incentivized housing programs located within neighborhoods categorized as at-risk.
Additionally, all nonprofit community development organizations and community-oriented private developers should adopt Community Preference Policies for new affordable housing units constructed or rehabilitated in neighborhoods categorized as at-risk.
i. Homestead Preservation Centers and Exemption Enrollment Programs
With the dramatic and rapid rise in property valuations in gentrifying neighborhoods, one of the most meaningful approaches cities and organizations can take to help mitigate displacement and stabilize neighborhoods is to lower the property tax burden for vulnerable homeowners. This can be achieved through strategies including increased community education and technical assistance with property-related tax and legal issues, as well as the provision of direct financial assistance to offset rising tax bills.
The City of Dallas and local nonprofit organizations can independently or collaboratively establish homestead preservation resource centers and exemption enrollment programs.
These initiatives would help to educate vulnerable homeowners about the rights and responsibilities of homeownership and help them maintain and preserve their homes, both for themselves and for the next generation, by providing a variety of property-related services including assistance with applying for property tax exemptions, abatements, and deferrals; protesting property valuations; and negotiating payment plans. A full-service homestead preservation center would also include legal services to assist homeowners with heirship issues, title clearing services, estate planning, and other property-related legal matters.
ii. Property Tax Relief Funds
Another way cities and organizations can assist vulnerable homeowners in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods is to provide direct financial relief to cost-burdened households to help offset the rising costs of tax bills.
The City of Dallas can do this in a few ways. Just like emergency rental assistance programs, the City could establish an emergency homestead stabilization fund to provide short-term property tax and mortgage assistance to low-income homeowners experiencing a financial crisis. For homeowners who need longer-term assistance, the City could create a neighborhood stabilization loan program to provide income-eligible homeowners with long-term, low-interest loans that would help them pay their tax bills and stay in their homes. These loans could also be forgivable in exchange for the homeowner agreeing to an affordability restriction, ensuring that the home remains owner-occupied for a set term of years.
Alternatively, or in addition to city programs, local nonprofit organizations can create their own property tax assistance programs with private philanthropic dollars and support. These funds can be individually structured to meet the needs of specific neighborhoods or vulnerable communities, as funding allows.
*SPOTLIGHT ON* West Dallas Homestead and Property Tax Assistance Programs (PTAP)
Builders of Hope CDC (BOHCDC) and Wesley-Rankin Community Center (WRCC), two long-standing community-based organizations in West Dallas, have been partnering to provide West Dallas homeowners with homestead preservation education and technical assistance since 2017. With the support of property tax consultants and legal services providers, BOHCDC and WRCC have conducted consistent community engagement and education workshops and periodic in-person clinics to provide West Dallas homeowners with a variety of homestead preservation-related services such as applying for homestead exemptions and protesting property valuations.
In 2024, the two organizations launched the Pilot West Dallas Property Tax Assistance Program (PTAP) to provide direct financial assistance to low-income, legacy homeowners who have lived in West Dallas for over 10 years. In its first year, the program received and processed over 150 applications. The West Dallas PTAP is made possible through the generous philanthropic support of The Dallas Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and the Lukirain Partners Fund at The Dallas Foundation.
iii. Targeted Home Repair Programs
Helping vulnerable homeowners make necessary repairs on their homes is one of the most effective ways of keeping residents in their homes and preserving naturally occurring affordable housing in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. In areas where there are relatively high rates of homeownership amongst vulnerable residents, repairing and securing homesteads and ensuring the protection and succession of generational wealth is crucial to neighborhood stabilization. Targeted home repair programs help direct and prioritize critical funding and resources to areas and homeowners who need it most.
The City of Dallas has previously created several targeted home repair programs in various neighborhoods based on the opportunity and availability of funding. The City’s Targeted Rehabilitation Program (TRP), launched in 2020, had sub-programs in West Dallas and Tenth Street – two neighborhoods where vulnerable homeowners have been hard-hit by displacement pressures. Later, the City utilized ARPA funds to create the ARPA Neighborhood Revitalization Program with a targeted focus on communities that had been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic – Joppa, Tenth Street, and Five Mile. Both programs were successful in providing critical repairs to vulnerable homeowners in high-need neighborhoods.
The City also recently restructured its Home Improvement and Preservation Program (HIPP) to simplify and consolidate its home repair offerings and now applies funding dedicated to targeted issues to the one main program. This consolidation resulted in the creation of the Major Systems Repair Program which is intended to address the main systems needed to keep the home functioning as well as the Emergency Home Rehabilitation Program that focuses solely on emergency situations that pose immediate threats to health and safety. These changes make it easier for vulnerable homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods to apply for critical home repairs. With continued support from the City Council, the City of Dallas could secure additional funding and resources to sustain efforts in addressing home repair needs and serve more vulnerable homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods.
In addition to city programs, local nonprofit organizations can create their own home repair programs to meet the needs of specific neighborhoods or vulnerable communities. In many ways, grassroots and community-based organizations are better suited than government agencies to administer home repair programs because they have spent time building trust and establishing long-term relationships with residents and communities and have access to more flexible funding sources to better serve specific vulnerable populations like immigrant families or heirs’ property owners. Local nonprofit community development organizations like Builders of Hope CDC, Jubilee Park & Community Center, Frazier Revitalization, and the SERUN Foundation (last two spotlighted below) operate successful targeted home repair programs in their respective service areas.
*SPOTLIGHT ON* Frazier Healthy Homes Program
Launched in 2022, Frazier Revitalization’s Healthy Homes Program provides home repairs and renovations to cost-burdened, legacy homeowners in the Bertrand neighborhood in South Dallas in order to improve living conditions for vulnerable residents, preserve affordable housing, and mitigate neighborhood displacement. Frazier’s holistic approach to community development underscores the idea that ensuring vulnerable residents feel safe and cared for is a prerequisite to engagement and empowerment activities. In light of this vision, Frazier couples its home repair program with wraparound support services and place-based neighborhood trainings, building both trust and power within the community.
*SPOTLIGHT ON* The SERUN Foundation
Founded in 2021, The SERUN Foundation (Socioeconomic Revitalization of Urban Neighborhoods) is a grassroots community organization that focuses on creating solutions to systemic issues that plague vulnerable communities, such as environmental pollution, illegal dumping, and discriminatory code enforcement.
SERUN’s Get Up 2 Code (GU2C) program helps vulnerable homeowners respond to critical code violations, like Substandard Structures, to address health and safety issues in their homes, preserve their properties, and avoid crippling fines. SERUN also partners with the City of Dallas’ Department of Code Compliance to organize regular community clean-ups through their Clean the Block Initiative. Grassroots organizations like The SERUN Foundation are actively combatting gentrification and displacement by serving, empowering, and mobilizing residents in vulnerable communities.
iv. Fair Lending Education and Enforcement
As property values increase in gentrifying neighborhoods, homeowners may try to access the increased equity in their homes to offset the rising cost of property taxes and other expenses. Black and Hispanic homeowners are disproportionately targeted and victimized by predatory lending products with excessive rates and fees that threaten to destabilize their housing security. Ensuring homeowners can access safe and non-predatory loan products enables them to securely leverage the increased equity in their homes and benefit from neighborhood revitalization.
The City of Dallas can assist vulnerable homeowners by improving access to fair lending education in gentrifying neighborhoods and enhancing enforcement of fair lending laws.
Goal 1C: Increasing Access to Homeownership for Vulnerable Residents in Gentrifying Neighborhoods
i. Anti-Displacement Homebuyer Assistance Programs
Down payment assistance is a fundamental tool in facilitating the homebuying process for low-to moderate-income households and creating new first-time homeowners. The City of Dallas currently has an Anti-Displacement Homebuyer Assistance Program, also known as DHAP10, which offers financial assistance of up to $50,000 for long-time Dallas residents to purchase a home within the city limits, with the goal of retaining Dallas residents. The City also has a program that targets specific occupations to help attract and retain first responders and health care workers in the city. In order to better serve its stated displacement mitigation goals to serve more vulnerable residents at risk of displacement, the City of Dallas should continue to fund DHAP10 to specifically serve legacy residents of gentrifying neighborhoods purchase homes within their communities.
ii. Community Homeownership Loan Funds
Helping low-income households access safe and affordable financing is essential to creating access to homeownership opportunities. Community homeownership loan funds, typically administered by community development financial institutions (CDFIs), provide affordable loans with favorable terms and low interest rates to low- and moderate-income households.
The City of Dallas can partner with local CDFIs to create community homeownership loan funds that help vulnerable residents in gentrifying neighborhoods access safe and affordable financing to purchase and maintain their homes.