Dallas city leaders are pushing hard to get more affordable housing in a city where it’s getting more and more expensive to live. At the same time, one developer claims city red tape and a permit fee hike proposed Monday are sending the opposite message. Wait till you see the bill he just received from the city. NBC 5’s Ken Kalthoff has the story.
Dallas city leaders want more affordable housing constructed in the city where it’s getting increasingly expensive.
At the same time, the city plans a hike in construction permit fees that would make building more expensive.
Home builder Kevin Hemphill received communication from the City of Dallas demonstrating the confusion and red tape that make it challenging to construct affordable homes.
Hemphill said he has been trying for two years to get a construction permit for a single-family home on a lot he owns on Eugene Street in South Dallas.
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His firm, Biig, has built many other homes in the neighborhood.
A receipt shows he paid nearly $1,000 in fees for the Eugene Street construction permit application in early 2022.
That permit was never granted.
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But Hemphill has now received a Dallas Water Utilities bill for $140 and a service cancellation notice for non-payment for service he was never provided at the lot.
“We’ve done the right things for the affordable housing need. We’re loving Dallas a whole lot more than they’re loving us,” Hemphill said.
With a partner, Hemphill is also building townhomes in the Jeffries Meyers neighborhood just south of downtown. He said 14 buyers with limited income are lined up, but city red tape is blocking the plan to build 34 townhomes on the site.
Hemphill said that the homes sell for $260,000 but appraise for $400,000, providing instant equity for the new owners.
“Housing is our biggest challenge right now in the city, and we’ve got to take it seriously as a city,” Dallas City Council Member Chad West said.
The Dallas City Council Economic Development Committee Monday heard about the Dallas Housing Opportunity Fund.
It seeks investors and deals with the goal of 1,500 new units, the kind of projects Kevin Hemphill said he has been trying to do with little city support.
“They say that, but at the end of the day, their actions always speak louder than anything else,” Hemphill said.
The Committee also heard the city's plan to boost construction permit fees. Officials said a survey showed Dallas is charging far less than other cities.
“We have been subsidizing private industry for several years with below-cost rates for permits,” Dallas City Council Member Paul Ridley said.
The Dallas building permit operation is an enterprise fund that must raise user fees to cover the cost of operation. The report Monday showed that fees have only covered about half the cost and reserve funds have been used.
A severe backlog of building permit applications has improved in recent months with the hiring of more staff.
“If we do not raise our fees we’re going to cut staff. And if we cut staff that means permits going to be in worse shape than they’ve ever been before,” Councilman Tennell Atkins said.
The fee increase would be around 50%
“How do you justify raising the fee on a process that is so broken and poorly executed? If anything you should be working with the builders on making it efficient and lower the permit cost,” Hemphill said.
There was some disagreement among city council members about the plan that calls for fee increases in February.
Kevin Hemphill said he wonders if his permits will be granted by then as construction expenses rise.
A request for comment from the City of Dallas on Dallas Water Utilities' handling of the Eugene Street property was not returned Monday.
