Dallas, TX
Should Dallas make a 'historic' $82 million housing investment? Voters will decide
Early voting for the May 4 election starts Monday and Dallas residents will have the chance to weigh in on a $1.25 billion bond package. It includes what would be a record investment in affordable housing in the city if voters approve it.
Three of the 10 bond propositions include housing-related funds — Propositions G, H and I — that total about $82 million in housing-related funds, about 7% of the total bond package.
“This gives us an opportunity to be innovative. This is very historic for our city,” said Council Member Adam Bazaldua.
A coalition of businesses, nonprofits, faith leaders and activists spent months advocating for a far greater investment: $200 million for affordable housing and another $35 million for homeless housing and shelter.
While the final bond package includes much less than that, Ashley Brundage, Executive Director of Housing Stability at the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas who helped lead the Dallas Housing Coalition, says that the bond funds will help.
“Housing affordability is impacting every single one of us, so by creating more units, creating more affordability, housing more people that are experiencing homelessness, it helps all of us,” Brundage said. “So I think it’s really important to do that, to go out and vote yes.”
Dallas has a shortage of more than 33,000 affordable rental units, according to a Child Poverty Action Lab study. That shortage could more than double by 2030, putting stress on more middle-income Dallasites.
Homeownership has moved out of reach for many middle-class residents in a lot of the city as home prices spiked during the pandemic and stayed high.
There are a lot of misconceptions of what affordable housing looks like and who it is for, Brundage said. These days, she said new subsidized housing is built into mixed-income developments that include market-rate units alongside subsidized, lower-cost ones. It takes the form of apartment complexes, duplexes and triplexes, condos, town homes and detached single family homes.
“Affordability is not your rundown apartment complex that everybody pictures in their minds because that’s what we see on movies,” she said.
The funds, if approved, would likely serve middle- and lower-income residents, whether that’s subsidizing some apartments in a new luxury building so that waiters or day care workers can afford to move in, or helping teachers and firefighters buy a brand new home near the school or fire station where they work.
Christopher Connelly
/
KERA News
The bond proposals include two prongs to getting more affordable housing onto the market.
About half of Proposition G, which covers economic development projects, is directed toward housing. The $36.6 million would be used to help developers finance projects that include some affordable units. Essentially, if a developer is going to build an apartment complex or a new subdivision, they could apply for these city funds. In exchange, they’d price some of the apartments or houses below market rate.
Then there’s $26.4 million in Proposition H — the housing proposition — that will pay for infrastructure upgrades that make it less expensive for a developer to build on a site, and then the developer will sell or rent some of those homes to folks who couldn’t otherwise afford them.
Bazaldua said using bond money to make expensive infrastructure investments is especially important in much of southern Dallas, where redlining and disinvestment have led to greater infrastructure needs.
“It’s very hard for us to have an expectation for builders to bring these products to an affordable price range if we’re expecting them to fabricate an entire new street system or water infrastructure,” Bazaldua said.
The third housing-related proposition, Prop I, is focused on reducing homelessness. It’d pay to upgrade the Bridge homeless shelter, and put at least $6.7 million dollars into long-term supportive housing for unhoused people moving into apartments of their own.
The bond proposals aren’t without their critics, though.
Taxpayers will pay about $51 million in interest if the full $1.25 billion bond package gets approved, and a lot of people don’t like that. Passing the bond measures won’t increase taxes, though.
Council Member Cara Mendelsohn came out against the housing bond proposition specifically and said she’s not endorsing the funding for economic development and homelessness. She said the city should use other programs and funding sources to address the city’s housing needs.
“We have more than a dozen housing development tools at our disposal that don’t require directly taxing our residents. Some are federal and state programs, city tax abatements, density bonuses and use of the Dallas Housing Finance Corp., which can issue bonds repaid by the rent received on the units,” Mendelsohn wrote in a Dallas Morning-News editorial.
But advocates say those programs aren’t enough to meet the city’s growing housing needs on their own, and the bond investment will help fill the gaps.
They also point out that the Austin, Denton, Houston and San Antonio have all used bond funds to build new housing or help people repair their homes. Fort Worth is considering it for a 2026 bond.
Brundage points out that bond money for affordable housing function a bit differently than other bond funds. Instead of the city covering the entire cost of building a new house or apartment complex like it would pay for a new fire station, the bond funds would act as a force multiplier that attracts private investment.
One study of Austin’s bond programs found that developers spent roughly $6 in private funds for every $1 of city bond funds.
Got a tip? Christopher Connelly is KERA’s One Crisis Away Reporter, exploring life on the financial edge. Email Christopher at cconnelly@kera.org.You can follow Christopher on Twitter @hithisischris.
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The search for the next general manager or president of basketball operations of the Dallas Mavericks has begun. They terminated Nico Harrison in November, which was about nine months too late, and gave any available candidates clear notice that they were open for business.
The plan was always to wait until after the season to start the search. While names popped up as the season reached an end, they didn’t begin turning over the staff until the Monday after the season ended. However, Dallas Mavericks fans are not going to like how the team is going about the search.
Patrick Dumont Leading Search for General Manager
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that the Mavericks are not hiring a search firm in their hunt for a new lead executive. Instead, team governor Patrick Dumont is “acting as his own point person.”
This is an… interesting decision, to say the least. Dumont is not a basketball person whatsoever, and most organizations usually hire a search firm. The Chicago Bulls hired one as they look for their replacement for Arturas Karnisovas. Just because a firm is hired doesn’t mean a team will listen, though.
The Mavericks hired a firm in their last search for a GM. They let Donnie Nelson go in 2021 after a long tenure with the Mavs. Instead of listening to the firm, though, Mark Cuban ignored it to hire Nico Harrison, who had no previous NBA front office experience. Harrison had been an executive with Nike, which gave him connections with players like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and plenty of others.
For a while, that seemed to be working out okay. While he still had some questionable transactions, such as trading for Christian Wood and letting Jalen Brunson walk in free agency, they were still able to make a run to the NBA Finals in 2024. Then, he blew it all up, trading away Luka Doncic for an older and injured Anthony Davis, and the team hasn’t been the same since.
It’s imperative that the Mavericks get this hire correct. The interim Co-GM setup with Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley has performed admirably, but the 2026 NBA Draft is important for the Mavs to get right. It’s their best chance to pair Cooper Flagg with another young star, as they don’t own their first-round pick again until 2031 after this.
Hiring the right GM could help bring in more draft capital by bringing in bad contracts or flipping veterans into picks.
Dumont was able to convince Rick Welts, a Hall of Famer, to come out of retirement to be the CEO and lead the charge for a new arena. Maybe Dumont pulls another rabbit out of his hat for the GM.
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For a moment, it looked like FC Dallas was on its way to another statement win at home tonight.
Petar Musa scored two first half goals, to extend his Golden Boot leading tally to nine goals. But after Dallas grabbed control, the Galaxy found a way back before halftime with goals from Lucas Sanabria and Joseph Paintsil.
The second half brought more chances and more frustration for Dallas, which finished the night with 13 shots to LA’s nine. In the end, the point stretched Dallas’ unbeaten run to five games, though just like last week, it felt like another match where Dallas left points on the table.
Key Moments
7’ – GOAL! After a poor pass back by a LA defender, Petar Musa was free to go one-on-one with the LA goalkeeper. After a touch to get ahead of a defender, Musa slotted home his eighth goal of the season from outside the penalty box.
21’ – Offside! Joaquin Valiente sent a floating ball over the Galaxy defense, where Musa was able to get behind the defense and make an easy play for what appeared to be his second goal of the night. The play was called offside despite a fairly lengthy review period.
38’ – GOAL! This one counts! Musa gets his second of the night off a great ball from Chris Cappis. Logan Farrington picked off the ball in the midfield. He then played Cappis wide to the left of the penalty area. Cappis immediately played a ball back across the goal for Musa to slide in and finish for his ninth of the season.
43’ – Goal LA. Lucas Sanabria got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He took a couple of touches to get outside the penalty box before firing a shot that beat Michael Collodi at the near post.
45+4’ – Goal LA. Gabriel Pec got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He pulled the ball back a bit, which caught a pair of Dallas defenders. This allowed Joseph Painstil to get free behind the Dallas defense as Pec played him through inside the penalty area. Pec immediately smashed home a shot above Collodi to tie the game.
75’ – Another offside goal. This time on a corner kick for Dallas, after a scrum in the penalty box, Kaick hammered home what looked to be the go-ahead goal. But after a few seconds the flag was raised due to a deflection on Osaze Urhoghide, who was in an offside position.
Instant Reaction
Yeah, this is another disappointing result for this team. In a real way, it felt like the first half against Houston from last month. Dallas grabbed the lead, looked in control, but some defensive miscues opened the game up for the visitors to climb back.
With a double-game week coming up, this will certainly be another game where Dallas will wonder ‘what if’ more than anything else…especially when you factor in the two goals called off for offside.
About the Subs
Eric Quill went to his bench for the first time in the 66th minute, as he brought on Santiago Moreno for Logan Farrington. Quill went to his bench again 81st minute with Ran Binyamin and Nolan Norris coming on for Sebastien Ibeagha and Deedson. The final sub came during stoppage time with Herman Johansson and Joaquin Valiente coming off for Sam Sarver and rookie Nick Simmonds, who made his MLS debut.
Man of the Match
No question about it tonight, it has to be Musa.
Where does this fit into the season
As of this writing, the draw puts Dallas into a three-way tie for 5th place with Real Salt Lake and Seattle. Both are in action right now and look firmly in control of their games. I’d expect Dallas to be in 7th place by the end of the night.
What’s next for FC Dallas
Dallas wraps up a three-game homestand next Wednesday night as they host Minnesota United.
Dallas, TX
Akheem Mesidor selected by Cowboys by Blogging The Boys in SB Nation’s community mock draft
Akheem Mesidor, Edge, Miami
Pass rush has been an issue since the Micah Parsons trade. The Rashan Gary trade helped, but Dallas still needs an injection of talent. Akheem Mesidor fits here because his body size allows for some versatility inside and out, something DC Christian Parker utilizes. Mesidor is also a high-motor player with a deep bag of pass rush moves.
His last season at Miami was full of disruption in the offensive backfield and he shows an all-around game, not just a bend-around-the-edge pass rusher. Yes, he’s a little older than you’d like in a rookie (25), but his motor, pass rush toolbox, and ability to play the run matches up with a need and makes him a quality pick at number 20.
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