It’s been a long time coming but Builders of Hope Community Development Corp. is rolling out its much-anticipated Anti-Displacement Toolkit before the Dallas City Council next month.
A series of workshops kicked off in mid-September, offering a chance for residents who are directly affected by gentrification and displacement in their neighborhoods to gain an understanding of the toolkit and give feedback.
In a nutshell, the Anti-Displacement Toolkit policy aims to:
- Protect vulnerable residents (renters and homeowners) from direct displacement through things like rental and relocation assistance programs, vouchers, enhanced legal protection, property tax relief, and fair lending education and enforcement.
- Preserve and construct affordable housing that is appropriately targeted to existing and future vulnerable residents through things like a displacement mitigation zoning overlay, targeted home repair programs, and a comprehensive density bonus program.
- Build and resource community power to promote neighborhood self-determination and community stewardship of land and business development.
Anti-Displacement Toolkit
The first workshop was held Sept. 12 at the South Dallas Cultural Center. Another session was held last week in West Dallas, and a third is planned this week in Vickery Meadow.
Stephanie Champion, chief community development and policy officer for Builders of Hope Community Development Corp., said the Anti-Displacement Toolkit is a citywide effort to create meaningful and impactful policy changes.
“This is really going to have an impact on vulnerable residents in historically marginalized neighborhoods that are experiencing gentrification and displacement,” she said. “We hope that this toolkit will ensure that vulnerable residents … have the right to stay as well as the opportunity to return to their neighborhoods and communities in the face of rapid development and rising housing costs.”
A Builders of Hope presentation, created over a year ago, outlines the research methodology used to determine what policies are needed to protect vulnerable residents. The toolkit is also outlined in a June blog post on the Builders of Hope website.
At the kickoff event, about 30 attendees were split into small working groups to talk about what they want from an anti-displacement toolkit. A CandysDirt.com reporter sat in on a working group that included Builders of Hope board chair Alta Mantsch, a Dallas school district representative, a Habitat for Humanity volunteer, an architect, and a nonprofit employee.
Champion took notes as residents asked questions and offered feedback. She explained that she’s been working closely with city officials in the Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization Department, which suggests that the toolkit has a good chance of being adopted as city policy.
A huge potential game-changer is an anti-displacement zoning overlay that would provide legacy residents (defined by Builders of Hope as those who have been in their homes for 10 years or more) the “right to stay.”
The overlay, already approved by the City Plan Commission, addresses the design and character of new construction to “curb the expensive and incompatible development we’re seeing in South Dallas and West Dallas,” Champion said.
“I’m talking about the McMansions, the three- and four-stories overpowering the smaller, older wood-frame single-family homes that have been there for decades,” she said. “That’s something we are actively advocating for.”
