• Reports

NEW RELEASE: (2024) Rental Housing Needs Assessment

September 2024

This is an updated version of the 2023 report.

A city’s housing market is a result of a confluence of factors: regional economic opportunity, existing housing supply, migration patterns, historic inequities, macroeconomic trends, and household preferences, among others. Addressing housing goals can mean different things for different residents: building affordable housing, preventing displacement, creating homeownership opportunities, or repairing dilapidated housing stock.

In Dallas, addressing the needs of renters, who often face higher poverty rates and cost burdens, is crucial to foster a more equitable and inclusive community. Prioritizing affordable rental options can support lower-income households, essential workers, and homelessness prevention. This report focuses on the rental housing needs for the City of Dallas’ residents, with an emphasis on low-income households.

Homeownership opportunities and rental affordability are often linked—in Dallas, trends suggest that moderate and high-income renters who are unable to afford homes are bidding up rents for lower-income residents. Homeownership can be an important wealth-building tool and long-term stabilizer for families. Subsequent CPAL projects will significantly focus on homeownership opportunities.

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  • Rental Housing Needs Assessment

    CPAL’s Rental Housing Needs Assessment analyzes the growing gap of rental housing supply and demand for low-income families.

    • As of 2021, Dallas had a 33,000+ unit gap in affordable rental housing. Without action, this shortage of affordable housing units is projected to nearly triple to 83,500 units by 2030.
    • The lack of homes that are affordable to lower-income families disproportionately affects Black renters, households with children, and seniors.
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  • WIC Playbook

    CPAL’s WIC playbook features prototypes designed to increase WIC benefit uptake in Dallas through human-centered design.

    • The WIC program plays an important role in improving birth outcomes and containing health care costs. Every dollar spent on WIC leads to savings in health care costs from $1.77 to $3.13 within the first 60 days after birth.
    • National data shows that in 2021, an average of 12.13 million moms, babies, and young children were eligible for WIC but only 51% actually participated.
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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.
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