Dear Friends,
 Typically, I would use this letter to inform you of all the cool things going on in Oak Cliff and the various events and programs that you might attend. This month is a little different. Please indulge me as I try to explain one of the biggest issues that will impact the future growth of Oak Cliff and southern Dallas.
First, some background...
Currently, the income of the average adult in southern Dallas is a scant $11,500 per year and over 41% of our residents never graduated from high school. If we are going to make any positive, long-term difference in our area, we have to change the underlying factors that are causing folks that fit this profile to concentrate here.
To that end, the Chamber launched an investigation last year and found that our governments have been subsidizing the building of apartments via tax credits, low interest loans and grants in exchange for the developers agreeing to keep rents low and lease the units only to the working poor for 30-40 years. The inevitable result of the low rents is that, as the apartments age, the income that they generate is not sufficient to keep up with the ever-increasing costs to maintain them. Hence, slums and blight are the result.
This is not the only concern. To date, 72% of all the subsidized properties are located in southern Dallas. This concentration impacts many aspects of our communities:
- It keeps our disposable income down, negatively impacting our ability to attract retail businesses and jobs
- The residents of these developments tend to have lower education levels which impact our ability to attract white-collar businesses
- It negatively impacts the property values of the surrounding communities
- It makes it virtually impossible for a developer who wants to build a higher end project to get equity and financing in that community
So how can we fix this? For the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, "fixing it" means that we have created functional balanced communities that have sufficient jobs for its residents, sufficient tax base to support our governmental services and sufficient places where the residents can spend their income. Achieving this vision will take a multi-pronged approach. STEP 1: First, we must "fix" the system that has helped to create this mess. This will require changes at all levels of government. From now on, the incentives that our governments offer for building affordable housing should be focused on the long-term financial viability of those projects (i.e. the developments should never be solely for low-income residents but should stress both mixed-income and mixed-use). In addition, the deed-restrictions that control the rent levels should never extend beyond the useful life of a property and there should be some absolute limit on the number of restricted units that can be built in any one area. STEP 2: Next, we need to find creative solutions to make the subsidized properties that have already been built more financially viable. This will have to be addressed on a building-by-building basis. One solution could involve getting the government to lift its deed restrictions, another might be to convert the units to condominiums and sell them to the tenants, or simply demolishing them and replacing them with a mixed-income/mixed-use development. STEP 3: Lastly, now that our governments have unwittingly helped cement a cycle of poverty into our area with its incentives, it should also help "fix" the problem by offering equally good incentives for the kinds of upscale housing that we want and need. It can also help by making sure our prime opportunity areas are "development ready" with proper zoning and infrastructure. One need not look any further than the UNT Dallas area to find a community that should have developers knocking down the doors to get it, but are put off because of antiquated zoning and the lack of water and sewer utilities. Making Oak Cliff into those functional balanced communities that we envisioned will take many years and a lot of vigilance but it will be worth it! Sincerely,
Bob Stimson,
Oak Cliff Chamber President
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