Communities Foundation of Texas Tackles Dallas Housing Crisis

The Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) has announced a significant five-year, $50 million initiative aimed at addressing Dallas’ urgent housing challenges. This commitment is set to transform into a potential $100 million Housing Impact Fund through future matching grants, marking a bold step towards ensuring stable and affordable living for all Dallas residents.

Why Dallas Needs a Housing Solution Now

North Texas faces a critical housing shortage, where the cost of homes and apartments has dramatically outpaced average incomes. The region isn’t building enough housing to keep up with demand, leading to an average DFW home costing over four times the median household income and a yearly loss of thousands of affordable rental units. Cullum Clark of the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative calls this a “troubling trend,” highlighting the inadequacy of current housing options for many residents.

Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert emphasizes that housing affordability is central to attracting investment, growing the workforce, improving public safety, and building stronger families. “Right now, too many Dallas residents are being priced out or pushed out—locked out of ownership, stability, and opportunity,” Tolbert stated, underscoring that this is not just a housing crisis, but an economic and health challenge for the city.

CFT’s Bold Strategy for Lasting Change

Recognizing its long history and scale in North Texas, CFT has committed $50 million over the next five years, with an ambitious goal of creating a $100 million Housing Impact Fund through partnerships with other foundations, corporations, banks, and community leaders. CFT President and CEO Wayne White describes the foundation’s role as threefold: to collaborate, to convene, and to co-invest. Their strategy revolves around “patient capital” to strengthen the housing ecosystem.

CFT’s approach centers on three key pillars: Partnership and Policy, Production, and Preservation. This combination of strategies has proven effective in other cities facing similar challenges.

Pillar 1: Partnerships and Policy

This pillar focuses on bringing public and private sectors together to improve housing systems and policies. A crucial element is the establishment of HouseDTX, a new network of funders, advocates, planners, and community leaders. HouseDTX will coordinate efforts, advance housing policy, and plans to release a housing scorecard next year to track progress in filling housing gaps and stabilizing housing stock. Leaders involved include Nadine Dechausay, Cullum Clark, Ashley Brundage (Habitat for Humanity), and others from key community organizations.

Pillar 2: Preservation

The preservation pillar aims to ensure that existing housing remains affordable, safe, and well-maintained. A significant initiative under this pillar is the partnership with The Real Estate Council (TREC) and JP Morgan Chase to establish the Dallas Community Land Trust. This model provides a new form of ownership, making homeownership accessible to more families by keeping land costs low. Stephanie Champion, board chair of the Dallas Community Land Trust, highlighted its role in “unlocking the dream of home ownership.” Frazier Revitalization has already contributed the first two homes to the Trust.

Pillar 3: Production

The production pillar is dedicated to increasing the supply of homes accessible to more people. This involves collaborating with mission-aligned community developers, incubating innovative construction methods like modular building and shipping container homes, and providing access to low-cost capital through new loan funds, including Program-Related Investments (PRIs). PRIs are designed as recyclable philanthropic capital, offering below-market interest rates to stimulate development.

Early Investments Driving Immediate Impact

CFT’s Housing Impact Fund is already deploying low-cost, recyclable capital to boost housing production. In recent months, over $4 million in aligned grant funding has been awarded to various initiatives and organizations:

These early investments are crucial for immediate impact and for learning alongside partners like the Muse Foundation, Meadows Foundation, and Rees-Jones Foundation, who are also making housing-related investments.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dallas Housing and CFT’s Initiative

• What is the main goal of CFT’s new housing initiative?
  To increase investments in housing across Dallas to build a thriving community, aiming for a $100 million Housing Impact Fund to create lasting change and address the housing crisis.
• Why is housing such a critical issue in Dallas?
  Housing prices and apartment rents have outpaced incomes significantly, leading to a shortage of affordable units and many residents being priced out of stable living, which impacts economic growth, health, and opportunity.
• What are the three core strategies CFT is using?
  The strategy centers on Partnership and Policy (convening public-private sectors), Production (increasing accessible home supply), and Preservation (ensuring existing housing remains affordable and safe).
• What is the Dallas Community Land Trust?
  It’s a model of homeownership established in partnership with TREC and JP Morgan Chase, designed to keep land costs low, making homes more affordable and accessible to more families for long-term preservation.
• How is CFT encouraging innovative construction?
  Through the Production pillar, CFT supports projects utilizing modular construction (DreamBUILD) and re-purposed shipping containers (LoMaX) to build homes faster, more efficiently, and at reduced costs.

This initiative represents not just a significant financial commitment, but a long-term, collaborative effort to ensure Dallas remains a city where everyone can afford to live, thrive, and call home, addressing a challenge vital to the region’s future economic growth and social well-being.

CFT tackles Dallas housing crisis