Finding a home for under $300,000 in Dallas can be quite the challenge. Now, there’s a neighborhood doing just that. NBC 5’s Sophia Beausoleil explains it’s part of a larger project with a goal of bringing affordable housing to the area.
Finding a house under $300,000 in Dallas can be challenging, and it can make it extremely difficult for moderate- to low-income earners to buy a home.
Through a public and private partnership, community leaders in Dallas are hoping new affordably priced homes will help people become homeowners.
Joe Dingman, treasurer and co-founder of Catholic Housing Initiative (CHI), Dallas City Councilmember Tennell Atkins, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, builders, lenders and others from the community took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday to celebrate several newly constructed single-family homes in the Five Mile neighborhood.
"Homeownership is foundational wealth in our society. If you look at the broad statistics from the census bureau, you'll see that half of Americans have no other wealth other than equity in their house," said Dingman who wants to help more people achieve wealth.
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He said CHI, which is a private nonprofit, was able to purchase lots from the city of Dallas for a bargain price of $1,000.
One of the newly constructed 1,500-square-foot homes on Gooch Street has three bedrooms, two baths and a two-car garage and is selling for $232,500. Its appraised value is already at $290,000.
That means the homeowner will instantly have more than $57,000 in equity.
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"They get $50,000 worth of equity when they first move in. That's a blessing because if you make $80,000 a year and you could not qualify for a $300,000 house it would be $240,000 so that $50,000 with a mean income would bring that down so that you could qualify for the housing for less than $300,000 and that's a mean income," said Dallas City Councilmember for District 8 Terrell Atkins.
Atkins said the project would have never happened if it wasn't for voters approving a bond package in 2017 to provide funding for infrastructure.
He said that area of the Five Mile Neighborhood needed a road, sidewalk and utilities such as water, which were all added.
"This straightway right here is $4 or $5 million infrastructure, you need about roughly $50 million of infrastructure in this neighborhood," said Atkins.
"We’ve got to put more infrastructure, especially in the southern part of Dallas," expressed Atkins who said another bond initiative is coming up.
He said without the infrastructure, building more affordable homes will be a challenge, especially since it's an expensive cost for builders.
Over the years CHI has completed 18 homes and 20 more are under construction in Dallas.
Tammy Derricks Williams, president of the Five Mile Neighborhood Association, said she welcomes the growth of her neighborhood.
"This is a step in the right direction because there are several lots that have been purchased and future plans to build new houses, so eventually what we see now is going to be even greater in the next five years or so," said Williams.
"It actually means growth, because this area was considered a freedmen town, so just to see the growth coming in and the infrastructure that was needed and with Gooch being the only street in the neighborhood with sidewalks, we're looking forward to the infrastructure projects that are going on now where sidewalks will be added to additional streets," she said about people not having to walk in the streets.
She said she plans to give new homeowners a basket with herbs, plant seeds and neighborhood information to make sure families feel welcomed.
Dingman said there is space to build more homes that are affordable in price.
"It's a great opportunity because it's affordable, it's a close-end neighborhood, there's a lot of empty lots here, there's a lot of room for growth," said Dingman.
There is a down payment assistance program through the city that potential homebuyers can use. There are conditions though, such as someone who takes the assistance would have to either live in the home for 5, 10 or 15 years.
Since it is a public and private partnership, the homes have to be sold to people who make $50,000 to $60,000, but that number varies depending on the size of the family.
A realtor for one of the homes said she's already received upwards of 80 calls on one of the homes, which currently has a buyer.
