Dallas committee schedules RFI for Hampton site; members debate future of Independence and Fort Worth Avenue properties

The Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee met March 24 in Dallas and heard an update on the city's properties tracker covering 1950 Fort Worth Avenue, Independence Drive and the Hampton property; staff said they will issue a request for information for the Hampton site no later than April 30 and return a market-response summary in June.

The memo and presentation, given by Christine Crossley, Director of the Office of Homeless Solutions, Darwin Wade, assistant housing director, and Gloria Sandoval, grama administrator for the Office of Homeless Solutions, described new financial detail added to the tracker and highlighted large cost gaps for some sites. Crossley told the committee staff had added acquisition, appraisal and other cost information to the table and clarified financing for Fort Worth Avenue: "the city rehab incentive as approved by council was 4,700,000.0. That cost per unit based on that amount by council, is about 67,000," and the total development cost used in underwriting yields roughly $142,000 per unit based on a $10,000,000 total development cost.

Why it matters: committee members said the three city-owned sites could play different roles in meeting both long-term housing goals and more immediate homelessness needs. Councilmembers pressed staff for clearer timelines, more district-level data on active homeless sites, and explicit inclusion of the housing action plan and other departments' input in any market-solicitation documents.

Staff described the planned scope and schedule for the Hampton site (listed in the presentation as 2929 Southampton). "The RFI for 29 29 Southampton, as…