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Dallas plans to use more than $6 million in funding to bring much-needed repairs to homes and infrastructure in Oak Cliff neighborhoods, officials announced Tuesday.
Across southern Dallas, residents have long dealt with crumbling sidewalks and missing water and sewer lines, which advocates say have burdened efforts to revitalize neighborhoods with aging homes. The funding for Dallas City Council District 4, which includes parts of Oak Cliff, is aimed at preserving neighborhoods.
"This is very important to our community because now we're seeing real action take place," said Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Maxie Johnson, who represents the district. "It's one thing to talk about equity. It's another thing to do equity and this morning, we're doing equity."
The funding, which was already secured, is being applied by the city's housing and transportation departments, officials said. The announcement comes as the city deals with a more than $30 million budget shortfall, staff face furloughs and officials aim to make every dollar count.
"You're going to start seeing changes immediately," Johnson said.
Dallas has faced scrutiny over the area's infrastructure needs and incomplete promises for repairs in the area. Officials made the announcement days after The Dallas Morning News reporting showed that advocates pointed to needed help from the city to address infrastructure and blighted, vacant lots across southern Dallas.
Related: Vacant lots in southern Dallas could help ease region's housing crisis"Part of our job as an office is to really look at the various funding sources and see how we match those with community need," said James Armstrong III, deputy director of the city's housing and homelessness division. "You will see that there will be sort of this marrying of funding sources with the need, so that we can obviously have more efficiency around how we use the money."
These improvements could also help residents not far from the new Halperin Park, a multimillion-dollar deck park stretching across Interstate 35E. Though residents have enjoyed the park's benefits, it's also raised concerns that gentrification and displacement could follow.
Johnson said the nearby historic Tenth Street neighborhood now has $4 million for roads, sidewalks, lighting and other critical infrastructure that could improve quality of life for residents. This is through the transportation department, he said.
"This is money that I've been asking, ‘Where's the money? What's going on?'" Johnson said. "It went from ‘We don't have any money' to ‘Hey, now this is where we at.'"
Locating that money wouldn't have been possible without the city manager's support, Johnson said. City spokespeople did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about the details of this funding, including when it was approved.
Related: Vacant lots plague southern Dallas as builders balk at infrastructure costsFor critical home repairs, the city is looking to use $2 million from the area's Tax Increment Financing District., and Armstrong said it would be used in a targeted approach.
In November, the City Council approved a $13.1 million agreement for Volunteers of America Texas to administer the city's Home Improvement and Preservation Program. TIF districts are included in the funding.
Lori Little, strategic advisor for the nonprofit, said it started work on homes in May, some of which had significant repair needs.
"We inherited some homes already that the city had made promises on and had gotten through the application process," Little said.
Also, $300,000 is available for homeowners who had previously been approved for repairs with the city, but whose projects weren't completed because former contractors failed to perform the work.
Related: Southern Dallas vacant lots reveal redlining's lasting toll
Barbara Johnson, at the news conference, described dire needs for her home in the Tenth Street district. She was expecting to get $100,000 worth of work in what has been a "long, tedious process." She said she was supposed to get roofing, foundation work, tree trimming and paint.
Johnson said now she's had issues with code compliance over unpainted wood. Her foundation has shifted. Her roof has dry-rotted and even though it was supposed to have been replaced, it has a gap.
"It rains in the house," Johnson said, adding that she hadn't gotten a call back about the issue until the councilman's team took action.
The reality of what residents are dealing with can be scary, said Johnson, the council member. Funding is available to right wrongs and collaboration is underway to make it happen, he said, even for issues that were before his time.
"We're going to continue to work," he said, adding, "I don't make promises that we cannot do … We're going to be heavily involved in this matter. We're going to follow policy, but we also want to make sure that transparency and accountability is taken, at our forefront."
Armstrong said when going through the requirements for repairs, his department does not want to "stop at the ‘no.'" Heirship issues, for example, are common in southern Dallas where families pass down properties over the generations.
"We want to give the homeowner resources to jump over the hurdle … or meet the requirement, and then we want to be sure that they are able to understand the parameters of the program," Armstrong said.
Johnson's community office, in the Glendale Shopping Center, will be open Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon to sign up for repairs and get information from Volunteers of America Texas.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.
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