Builders of Hope presents 'A Right to Stay' anti-displacement toolkit to Dallas committee

Builders of Hope on Wednesday presented a citywide anti-displacement toolkit titled “A Right to Stay” to the Dallas City Council Housing and Homelessness Committee, laying out neighborhood maps that show concentrated vulnerability in the Southern sector and recommending five priority actions for the City of Dallas.

The nonprofit’s chief community development and policy officer, Stephanie Champion, said the toolkit—funded with grants and produced with data partners—maps neighborhood change across a ten‑year period and offers policy and program recommendations intended to reduce direct, indirect and cultural displacement.

The toolkit matters because it combines neighborhood vulnerability, demographic change and housing‑market strength into a typology that identifies where displacement pressures are accelerating. Builders of Hope told the committee that more than 40% of Dallas neighborhoods are either susceptible to or experiencing some stage of gentrification, and that proximity to the urban core and public investments such as TIF districts can accelerate pressure on affordable communities.

Champion said Builders of Hope secured grant funding from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and the Dallas Foundation, and that the toolkit’s mapping covers 2011–2021. “We spent two years conducting policy research, developing and refining our neighborhood mapping methodology, conducting extensive community outreach and engagement, drafting and compiling policy recommendations, and finally launched and published our toolkit in November of last year,” Champion said. She said the toolkit adapts a three‑part gentrification analysis developed by Professor Lisa Bates and used in other cities.

The presentation described a six‑category typology (susceptible, early Type 1, early Type 2, dynamic, late, historic loss) and showed that large portions of the Southern sector fall into accelerating categories. Champion said the toolkit overlays TIF districts and other public investments with vulnerability scores to illustrate how policy and market forces interact.

Builders of Hope’s five top recommendations for the city were presented in full to the committee: (1) adopt enhanced tenant legal protections to the fullest extent allowed under state law, including mandatory tenant protections for rental properties participating in city subsidy or incentive programs, a citywide tenant right‑to‑organize ordinance, and continued funding for legal and mediation support for tenants; (2) facilitate an affordable housing preservation network to monitor at‑risk multifamily properties and coordinate acquisition and rehabilitation strategies; (3) adopt a “right priced” affordable housing policy to prioritize households earning 50% AMI and below for rental units and 80% AMI and below for homeownership programs; (4) incorporate shared‑equity housing models (including community land trusts and resale restrictions/right of first refusal) across city housing programs; and (5) prioritize development of a displacement‑mitigation zoning overlay or similar tool to preserve the character and naturally occurring affordable housing in at‑risk neighborhoods.

Champion described specific program ideas that accompany those goals, including emergency rental and relocation assistance, property tax relief funds and targeted home‑repair programs for homeowners, and neighborhood stabilization vouchers and community preference policies for renters.

City staff responded that the toolkit will be a starting point for further evaluation and that many recommendations will require additional legal review and inter‑departmental research. “Different departments have looked at the toolkit pretty closely and understand what policies might relate to their departments,” said Thor Erickson, assistant director of the Department of Housing and Community Development. He told the committee the city previously entered into an MOU with Builders of Hope; that MOU has ended, and Builders of Hope conducted the study independently while sharing results with staff.

Hannah Peacock, assistant city attorney, told the committee her office had not yet reviewed the toolkit. Andrea (identified in the briefing as a forward‑planning staff member working with Forward Dallas) said Forward Dallas staff had incorporated some of Builders of Hope’s data and that the toolkit’s recommendation for a displacement mitigation overlay aligns with proposals in Forward Dallas.

Cynthia Elexon, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development, told the committee the city has policy tools under development that align with items in the toolkit, including ongoing work on long‑term affordability periods, home‑repair programs and the municipal community land trust designation process. “We are doing quite a bit of these things already,” Elexon said, but she also noted that long‑term resale restrictions can be complicated, particularly where federal HOME or CDBG dollars are involved.

Committee members raised technical questions about the mapping methodology and local accuracy of particular neighborhood classifications. Council members asked whether the city had validated the maps against neighborhood‑level knowledge; Champion and staff said not comprehensively, and committee members requested follow‑up with district offices so staff can reconcile local knowledge with the toolkit maps.

Several committee members praised the toolkit as a useful compilation of policies but warned against adding unnecessary layers of regulation that could hinder development. Champion and staff emphasized the toolkit is intended as a menu of options that the city and community can adopt selectively.

The presentation concluded with staff and members agreeing to continue interdepartmental review and to return with further analysis and legal vetting for specific recommendations as needed. Builders of Hope provided a public QR code and a web address (bohcdc.com) for the full toolkit and physical copies were distributed to committee members.

What’s next: staff said they will evaluate priority recommendations that could move forward—some will need legal review or additional research before the city can act. The committee asked Builders of Hope and staff to follow up on neighborhood‑specific validation, and for staff to brief the committee on recommended next steps after legal and departmental review.