Improve Housing Choice Voucher Acceptance
At CPAL, we believe that families should have the choice to live affordably in areas that are best suited to their needs and equipped for upward economic mobility.
This includes access to “high opportunity” areas, neighborhoods with strong economic, environmental, and educational outcomes. Research shows that these neighborhoods can yield long-term benefits, particularly for young children.
Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) are an important financial tool to help low-income households access housing. Those that benefit most from vouchers are primarily women and BIPOC renters who live below the federal poverty threshold. Notably, only 7% of surveyed apartment complexes reported accepting vouchers, according to a survey by the Inclusive Communities Project across four North Texas counties in 2020.
To understand this disconnect and ways to improve voucher uptake, we have detailed: (1) the system, the relationships, and dynamics at play in the Dallas voucher ecosystem; (2) the hard problems that stymie voucher acceptance; (3) the opportunities and leverage points for design.
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2024 Evictions in Dallas County: Understanding Filings, Outcomes, and Displacement
CPAL examines eviction cases in Dallas County in 2024, including record-high filings, varying courtroom outcomes, citation service methods, and the households ultimately
- In 2024, landlords filed 50,117 evictions in Dallas County – 200 per business day — the highest level in 25 years of available data.
- Across Dallas County in 2024, 52% of eviction cases favored the landlord, and 48% favored the tenant. However, case outcomes, especially in contested cases, varied by Justice of the Peace court.
- Ultimately, 17% of eviction cases ended with the execution of a writ of possession, meaning the tenants and their belongings were physically removed from the rental unit.
An Underutilized Housing Affordability Tool: Homestead Exemptions
CPAL examines homestead exemption access in Dallas County — who’s claiming, who isn’t, and how much money eligible homeowners could realize if they claimed this...
- ~57K residential properties in Dallas County may be eligible for the homestead exemption but have not yet claimed it, for an estimated total benefit of ~$310M.
- ~40K properties in low-income and very low-income census tracts in Dallas County may be eligible for the homestead exemption but have not yet claimed it, for an estimated total benefit of ~$200M, or ~$5,000 per household.
- While an estimated 95% of eligible households in high-income census tracts claim their homestead exemption, only 81% of households in very low-income census tracts claim their homestead exemption.
Yes, Dallas violent crime dropped in 2022, but the number of arrests is even more
CPAL analysis shows Dallas is getting safer while the number of arrests continues to fall.
- Reducing those arrests that do not make us safer is important: 80%+ of arrests are for nonviolent offenses and 75% of the jail population is pretrial, impacting thousands of children and families.
- A recent CPAL study showed Dallas County children are more likely than kids in any other Texas county to have parents in prison. At least 80,000 of them had a parent behind bars, according to the report.