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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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.
Housing in Dallas: A Framework for Action
This framework for action details the ways in which CPAL organizes its housing efforts across four dimensions.
- In 2017, 22,500 occupied housing units in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) were classified as severely inadequate.
- Between 2008 and 2018, the DFW MSA lost 237,600 low-rent units (units renting for under $800), representing a decline of 42%.
Legal representation increases Dallas tenants’ chances of avoiding eviction
CPAL data underscores the importance of legal representation in eviction cases which keeps tenants housed.
- CPAL data reveals how courts rule in landlords’ favor 84% of time when tenants don’t show up; when tenants appear with legal representation, landlords win only 10% of cases.
- Through August, 28,845 evictions have been filed this year in Dallas County, an average of 119 per day, a 223% increase over the same period in 2021 and a 203% increase over the same period in 2020.