Chad West said Dallas is following in the footsteps of the West Coast and, to some extent, the East Coast.
DALLAS — When it comes to the housing affordability crisis in Texas in general and the city of Dallas in particular, City Councilman Chad West is blunt. “That's very problematic. The city could lose a lot of business very quickly, and it's already lost a lot of business,” people said.
“If you look at it this way, the average family making $60, $70, $100,000 a year can no longer afford to live in a city,” West told Y'all-itics.
And what's abhorrent to Texans, West says, is that Dallas is following in the footsteps of the West Coast and, to some extent, the East Coast, experiencing rapid population growth without a corresponding housing policy in place. said.
“If we don't want to end up like Seattle or Portland or San Francisco, or if we don't want to be as expensive as New York City, we have to do something different in Dallas, and we need to start doing it now. “We have to start,” he said.
And West says the residents most affected are typically those in the city's middle class.
By 2030, the city is expected to have a shortage of 88,000 housing units for people in the typical $50,000 to $60,000 annual income range.
West says that includes teachers, entry-level police officers and firefighters, mail carriers, hospital technicians and service workers.
“So where are they going?” West asks. “They're going to have to live outside the city, otherwise we might not have those people to function as a city.”
This didn't happen overnight, West said, and the problem has been steadily growing for decades, which is one reason North Texas is seeing such urban sprawl. said.
One solution to alleviate the crisis could boil down to 1,500 square feet. The city of Dallas will soon begin discussing whether to lower the city's minimum lot size (the amount of earth that residents can build on) to that amount.
The average lot size in many areas of Dallas is around 5,000 square feet, but you can also find lot sizes up to 10,000 square feet throughout the city.
And the zoning that caused this problem has been around since the '50s and '60s.
West says think of the Normal Rockwell ideal, when everyone had a big garden and a white picket fence, and that was considered the American dream.
“If you talk to the average millennial or these centenarians (Gen Z), many of them will tell you that lofts, apartments, and back houses are nice. They don't want to tend to a large garden. Our zoning hasn't kept pace with the changes in the way people live that we've seen over the last 70 years, it just hasn't kept up,'' West argues.
The concept of reducing minimum lot sizes is not new.
The City of Houston has lowered the minimum lot size to 1,400 square feet in some areas of the city. And Austin is considering downsizing to 2,500 square feet.
The advantage is housing density. And as the number of houses increases, prices will also fall.
But reevaluating lot sizes is only part of the equation for Dallas.
The city will also consider whether to allow duplexes, triplexes and four-family homes in single-family residential areas. There will also be discussion about “granny flats,” or accessory dwelling units built in backyards.
Without action, the situation could become even more dire for Dallas.
As people consider leaving, businesses may refuse to move in.
West said a metals company that had considered moving to Dallas decided instead to keep and expand its plant in Louisiana, but the housing prices its workers would have faced if they chose to relocate. It is said that this is due to the crisis.
“Right now we're kind of on the cusp of that,” West said. “I think the situation could get much worse. But if you're already leaking, there's no need to wait until the roof collapses to get it repaired.”
The Dallas City Council is scheduled to receive briefing on these proposals on December 6, 2023. If the majority decides to move forward, West predicts a more formal proposal will be submitted and voted on within a year.
Until then…welcome to Dallas. We hope that you will take advantage of it.
