STRATEGIC PRIORITY: Housing & Homelessness Solutions
AGENDA DATE: April 26, 2023
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S): All
DEPARTMENT: Office of Community Care
EXECUTIVE: M. Elizabeth Cedillo-Pereira
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SUBJECT
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A resolution authorizing approval of the program statement Racial Equity Plan fund - Housing Stability through Rent Subsidies and Relocation Assistance Program, as shown in Exhibit A, to provide assistance to residents at risk of housing instability and/or displacement - Financing: No cost consideration to the City
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BACKGROUND
The Novel Coronavirus Disease ("COVID-19") pandemic and its resulting economic Data shows that 2021 and 2022 were years of rising rent in Dallas. Combined with increased costs for other essentials, this increased housing-cost burden has impacted lower income families the most. Over the last two years, the City, facilitated by the Office of Community Care, has provided millions in rental assistance to residents impacted directly and indirectly by the COVID-19 pandemic. These funds have been near fully expended while we still understand the housing needs of residents to be great.
Over the course of the last two years, staff has seen numerous instances in which residents have been unable to maintain housing due to rising costs, however these are not always due to macro factors. In some circumstances, residents have been able to benefit from grandfathered below-market rents from having lived at properties for multiple years, only to see those rents rise to meet rising market rates when properties are sold or remodeled. Similarly, residents may be forced to live in lower quality units for lower rental rates, but unable to afford market or near-market rates. This can put these residents at risk of immediate housing instability with any shift in rents or additional costs.
This item authorizes acceptance of the program statement for the Racial Equity Plan Fund - Housing Stab...
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