Dallas homeowners who don’t make a lot of money can get help from the city to cover essential repairs and home improvements. There are funds to help pay for wheelchair ramps, for replacing outdated and inefficient appliances or fixing a leaking roof.
In all, Dallas has about $15 million to spend on housing repairs. But the money is split up between eight separate home repair programs. Each of those eight programs have different rules, eligibility requirements and goals. Thor Erickson, who oversees home improvement projects in the city’s housing department, made the case to consolidate them.
“We have some inefficiencies in terms of service delivery. We have programs competing against each other. We have programs that serve a little bit or a lot depending on the funding source. And all of this to say that we need to be able to serve residents with their home repair needs, but we need more consistency,” Erickson told council members on the Housing and Homeless Services Committee.
The suggestion was well-received by councilmembers, who pointed out that just applying can be an onerous process for homeowners, between digging up all the paperwork necessary to get the funds and figuring out which of the eight programs they might qualify for.
“This has got to be simplified. It’s confusing to me and so it’s got to be confusing to residents,” said Chad West.
[Need help with repairs? The Dallas Media Collaborative, which KERA News is a part of, published a guide to Dallas home repair programs.]
West said the city has a “sea of need” when it comes to home improvement. As older Dallasites age in place, many need help covering the costs of aging in place. Without financial assistance, many housing advocates fear the loss of even more affordable homes to dilapidation, teardown and replacement with larger, more expensive houses.
Some of the programs target historically disinvested neighborhoods, like West Dallas and Historic 10th Street. Some are federally funded to deliver specific services, like septic tank decommissioning or lead hazard reduction. Last year, the city council greenlit a program to help older Dallasites pay for home repairs that improve accessibility and safety.
Most of the funds are earmarked to help households that earn less than 80% of the area median income — $82,500 for a family of four — though some of the housing-repair money that comes from federal sources can go to help people earning up to 120% of the area median income, which is $126,700 for a family of four.
That was a concern for Council Member Cara Mendelsohn, who suggested city funds would be best used to help those with the lowest incomes and highest needs and leave middle-income homeowners to find help through other organizations.
“We can’t be the place that everybody calls for home repair….We really need to be targeted on who we’re trying to help that wouldn’t have any other opportunities,” said Mendelsohn, who used to run a home repair nonprofit.
Mendelsohn also questioned the cost of administering the programs. Erickson said 208 people were “in the pipeline” and more were applying for the $15 million in funds.
Zarin Gracey asked for Erickson to find ways to bring more local businesses into the home repair process.
“I do want to see more efforts being made to ensure that minority developers are actually being equipped and trained to…participate,” he said.
Got a tip? Christopher Connelly is KERA's One Crisis Away Reporter, exploring life on the financial edge. Email Christopher atcconnelly@kera.org.You can follow Christopher on Twitter @hithisischris.
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