An Underutilized Housing Affordability Tool: Homestead Exemptions
Housing affordability impacts financial stability, wealth-building opportunities, and long-term economic mobility for families. Homeowners can reduce their property tax bill by claiming exemptions — i.e., tax breaks — such as the homestead exemption.
The homestead exemption is a valuable but underutilized benefit for Dallas County homeowners. In particular, homeowners in low-income census tracts, majority Black, and majority Hispanic census tracts do not claim the homestead exemption at the same rates as homeowners in high-income census tracts and majority White census tracts.
About 57,000 properties within Dallas County are potentially eligible for the homestead exemption but have not yet claimed it, for an estimated total benefit of ~$310M. Of those, ~40,000 properties are in low-income and very low-income census tracts, for an estimated total benefit of ~$5,000 per household. For context, $5,000 is equivalent to what a four-person household in Dallas County would spend in 5.2 months on food or in 3.5 months on health care.
As a companion to the report, we also developed an interactive tool, the Dallas Homestead Exemption Map, to visualize utilization of the homestead exemption within Dallas County by neighborhood, census tract, and ZIP code.
We hope the report and web map will support efforts to increase access to the homestead exemption across Dallas County.
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Improve Housing Choice Voucher Acceptance
CPAL’s Housing Voucher Acceptance Guide explains Dallas’ voucher ecosystem dynamics and ways to improve HCV acceptance.
- In a 2020 survey of apartment complexes across Dallas, Denton, Tarrant, and Collin Counties conducted by the Inclusive Communities Project, only 7% of respondents reported accepting vouchers.
- Those that benefit most from vouchers are primarily women and BIPOC renters who live below the federal poverty threshold. 15% of the DHA Housing Choice Voucher recipients (~2,400 families) are households with dependent children.
CPAL's Trust Her team gives contraception access to more women
Through the Trust Her initiative, CPAL works to dramatically increase access to free or low-cost contraception.
- 1.8 million Texas women of childbearing age cannot afford their preferred method of birth control. Without good insurance, an IUD–the most effective form of contraception–can cost up to $1,300.
- Women can often 7 months or more to obtain her method of choice. Appointments may not be available for many weeks and more waits can follow, depending on a clinic’s contraception inventory.
Dallas County tenants who appeal evictions find better outcomes
New data from CPAL reveals powerful insights about the link between legal counsel and staving off eviction in Dallas County.
- During a year in which Dallas County evictions were at a five-year high, about 80% of times in which tenants appealed, the cases were either dismissed, abated or ruled in favor of tenants.
- Having legal counsel matters a lot: When tenants have legal representation, cases are decided in favor of the landlord just 10% of the time.