2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment
February 2026
This is the third annual edition of this report. See past reports:
This year’s report is anchored by four core insights:
1) It’s hard to be a renter in Dallas. Of the 304K renter households in Dallas, 59% are low income (≤80% Area Median Income) and 50% are cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their gross income on housing.
2) There is a shortage of affordable rental units for very low-income households. For households that earn at or below 50% AMI ($52K for a family of four), the City of Dallas is short 46K affordable rental units — for every 100 households ≤50% AMI, there are just 60 affordable rental units.
3) Dallas is changing. In the past 10 years, Dallas has realized significant growth in the population of seniors (+33%), one- and two-person households (+23% and +19%, respectively), and high-income households earning more than $150K annually (+130%). This rapid growth, however, is juxtaposed with a slight decline (-0.8%) in the population of children, a small increase in households with three or more people (+2%), and a significant decrease in households earning less than $35K (-32%).
4) There are signs of progress, but progress is uneven. After record-high rent growth during the pandemic, renters have recently felt some relief: year-over-year rent growth was largely flat or down slightly in the City of Dallas in 2024 and 2025. An estimated 8,400 multifamily units were delivered in 2024 — 84% market-rate units and 16% income-restricted units. In the past 10 years, educational attainment and household income have both improved significantly, but long-standing inequities persist, and Dallas is the sixth most segregated large city in the U.S.
To achieve a stronger Dallas, housing must be a central issue. Whether your north star is growing the economy, improving the health and wellbeing of Dallas residents, or breaking the cycle of poverty, housing matters.
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Dallas’ $200 Million (Housing) Question
CPAL’s assessment of rental affordability in Dallas is informing conversations about public investment in affordable housing.
- 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.
- Families with 4+ people are particularly vulnerable: there are 50 three-bedroom units affordable for every 100 households at or below 50% AMI, dropping to 15 three-bedroom units affordable for every 100 households by 2030.
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CPAL Launches Mobile Clinic to Enhance Family Planning
In partnership with Parkland Health, CPAL's Trust Her team launches a mobile clinic to enhance family planning services for Dallas College students.
- Partnering with Parkland Health Foundation, Dallas College, and philanthropic partners led by the W.W. Caruth, Jr. Fund at Communities Foundation of Texas, a Trust Her mobile clinic has been launched in North Texas to continue CPAL’s work to improve maternal health by helping ensure women and families have the resources they need to plan for their futures.
- This barrier-free clinic is designed to meet women literally where they are, and to provide same-day access to birth control regardless of ability to pay.
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.