After seven years of planning and pivoting, a community partnership of builders, developers and elected officials broke ground Monday on a workforce housing project that will bring more than 50 single-family homes to Mill City in south Dallas.
Good Urban Development, a joint venture between nonprofit Urban Specialists and developer Matthews Southwest, is building a new project in an area where about half of the lots are vacant as demand for affordable housing soars. We aim to bring vibrancy.
Project leader Shannon Brownke announced her new role as president of Good Urban Development Corp. on Monday, saying she was “very pleased.” “This was a passion project for me. I'm an apartment dweller. I've been waiting for affordable housing for me and my family.”
The Mill City 50 project will include 50 traditional two-story homes, as well as a community coffee shop, food delivery station, workspace, and ghost kitchen. Homes range in size from 1,400 square feet to 2,000 square feet and feature three bedrooms, one-car garages and separate fenced backyards.
Residents earning between 60% and 120% of the area median income will be eligible to purchase a home for an estimated $209,000 to $271,000. The first 10 of his cars are expected to be launched on the market in early 2024.
A family of four earning $71,200 a year would be eligible to buy a home and have $40,000 deducted from the home price.
Brown Key, architect Janet Brown Snead, and architect Stacey Stewart, all women of color, are spearheading the project. Brown-Sneed, the project designer for Simply Custom, is the first Black woman to become project manager for a team of architects in the city of Dallas.
“We definitely want to honor her and send her flowers because she has done such a great job of pushing women to the forefront in this male-dominated industry,” Brownke said. Ta.
Stewart, CEO of Building With Integrity, is a self-taught architect with over 20 years of experience in the industry.
The City of Dallas contributed $3 million and the County of Dallas contributed $2.5 million to the project. Inwood Bank, the project's financial partner, has a down payment assistance program available for buyers.
Habitat for Humanity will sell the land to Good Urban Development, which will provide affordable housing seminars and Mill City 50 housing options to 400 clients of its affordable housing program.
Jack Matthews, president of Matthews Southwest, a co-partner on the project, said it's difficult to build homes in south Dallas without solid infrastructure and secure financing.
But the most important challenge is to ensure that Mill City's current residents do not become victims of gentrification.
“We don't want to hurt existing neighbors,” Matthews said. “A $60,000 home can become a $180,000 home just by building nice homes around it.”
In three legislative sessions, Mr. Matthews worked to pass legislation that would freeze certain homeowners' school district taxes for a period of time, thereby protecting current residents from being priced out of their homes, and was largely successful this year.
“The trick is to take back the neighborhood and take care of the people who are already here,” Matthews said.
Anton Lackey, president of Urban Specialists, told the lively audience that the area he calls East Dallas is finally getting the attention it deserves after decades of being left out of investment and conversation. He said that he is growing up.
“We don't want to gentrify,” Lackey said. “We want to make sure that the traditional residents of this community, like my mother, can stay here. We didn't say, let's build mansions. We're saying, “Let's build homes so that people in this community can stay in this community.''
This will be corrected at 12:40pm on November 9th. It was amended to reflect that Matthews was instrumental in three legislative sessions passing legislation that would have allowed certain homeowners to freeze school district taxes for a period of time.
