[Excerpts]

You have to wonder what would become of the residents of Kendall Villas without advocates like Dallas Area Interfaith pressing the city on their behalf.

....city staffers were aware that many of Villanueva’s neighbors had concerns. A code compliance supervisor had talked to residents in April at the behest of Dallas Area Interfaith. The nonprofit said residents relayed stories about raw sewage leaking onto walkways, electric stoves sparking and mold in bathrooms. Based on their photos and video, and what I saw in person, I believe them.

DAI met again with city officials in May. The concerns persisted into June, when DAI hosted another meeting with city workers at Kendall Villas. A code compliance officer surveyed Villanueva’s collapsed ceiling, according to DAI representatives who were there.

DAI member and Kendall Villas resident Yazbeth Esquivel, 35, helped organize neighbors who had concerns. A handful of complaints trickled into 311 in May, and more than 30 came into the system at once in June....

[Photo Credit: Michael Hogue, Dallas Morning News]

Bad Landlords Make Dallas Housing Miserable. Why Can't City Crack Down?, Dallas Morning News [pdf]

¿Porqué Dallas Permite Que Propietarios Tengan Apartamentos en Malas Condición?, Dallas Morning News [pdf]

[Excerpt]

Barry Lachman, a Dallas Area Interfaith leader, was involved in the creation of Chapter 27 in 2016. He said that not having enough data for at least five to 10 years can play against good landlords who are following the rules, but ultimately, the most affected by shorter retention periods are tenants.

[Excerpt]

Reporting bad landlords who won’t fix apartments to maintain adequate living conditions should be easier for Dallas tenants, especially for those who are the most vulnerable because of their economic or immigration status.

It has been a little over a month since this newspaper reported the hazardous conditions endured by Bachman Lake-area tenants, including moldy walls, pest infestations and leaky roofs. This is not a case of “they get what they pay for.” Residents said they are paying up to $1,400 a month, close to the rent average in the Dallas area.

For these tenants, most of them with limited English skills, navigating the city’s bureaucracy to report code violations has been frustrating. They said they rarely see results. “We are not living for free; we are paying,” Bachman Lake resident [and Dallas Area Interfaith leader] Claudia Cruz, 38, told us.

Bachman Lake Tenants Need Support, Dallas Morning News [pdf]

[Excerpt]

On Wednesday, residents will join Dallas Area Interfaith, Bachman Lake Together and Lumin Education in a meeting with city officials to demand solutions to what they describe as “risky and unbearable living conditions” in many units.

“We are ready to speak up, and we are not scared anymore. All the things we went through are helping us to move forward,” said Claudia Cruz, 38, a mother of three children who lives in an apartment in the area. “We are not victims, we are organizers now, and we want the city and those in charge to work with us.”

[Photo Credit: Maria Ramos Pacheco, Dallas Morning News]

Dallas Tenants Counter ‘Unbearable’ Conditions, Dallas Morning News [pdf]

[Translated excerpt below]

"It's a good start", said Josephine López Paul, organizer with Dallas Area Interfaith, a nonprofit organization that helped create the County housing assistance program.

"It's a down payment towards a major issue in our county."

Ian Mattingly, president-elect of the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, noted industry analyst estimates that 15% of county renters will not be able to pay rent this month.

[Photo Credit: Ashley Landis, Dallas Al Día]

Dallas County Will Launch Housing, Business Assistance Programs With $10 Million in Federal Money, Dallas Morning News

Dallas: Condado Aprueba $10 Millones Para Apoyar Vivienda y Pequeños Negocios, Dallas Al Día

After DAI organized judicatory leaders and clergy from every major religion in Dallas, and the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, to testify in support of short-term supports for low-income renters and homeowners, the City of Dallas authorized about $13.7 million for short-term rental and mortgage assistance programs.  $6 million will be dedicated to direct income support for Dallas residents left out of the CARES Act and another $1.5 Million will be entrusted to nonprofits to distribute.  

Speakers who testified in support of this local aid package included Bishop Edward Burns and Auxiliary Bishop Gregory Kelly of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Bishop Michael McKee of the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, Bishop Erik KJ Gronberg of the Northern Texas - Northern Louisiana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and Rabbi Kimberly Herzog-Cohen of Temple Emanu-El.  

Funding will come directly from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and other federal funding the city has available and will be targeted at households making 80% or below of the area median income and are left out of the federal stimulus CARES Act.  DAI leaders argued that with 50,000 renters in danger of not being able to pay the rent, that a large local aid package would be essential.

50,000 Familias en Riesgo de Desalojo Por No Pagar La Renta, Al Dia Dallas  

Immigrant Workers Face Economic Uncertainty During Covid-19 Shutdown, America Magazine

Personas Indocumentadas Sí Podrán Acceder a Fondo de Ayuda Para Renta, Dallas Al Día

Dallas County Will Launch Housing, Business Assistance Programs With $10 Million in Federal Money, Dallas Morning News

Press Conference Calling on City Council, Dallas Area Interfaith, [video]

City Council Discussion on Aid to Immigrants, City of Dallas [video]

A Dios Le Pido..., Revista Católica [en español]

In District 6, where only 800 votes were cast in the previous election, DAI leaders organized a nonpartisan accountability assembly in which 300 local residents grilled city council candidates on issues they have been working over the last year, including affordable housing, early education, an upcoming city bond and improvements to the 311 system. 

The assembly was the largest attended forum in District 6, in the heart of Bachman Lake where last year's housing code work started, and where large-scale evictions occurred only 48 hours after their groundbreaking rewrite of the city's rental housing code.  Leaders not only demanded long-term housing solutions in West Dallas, parents of children attending Lumin Education are fighting for a zoning change to preserve a Montessori school in this impoverished region.

Charter or Dallas ISD: Dispute Over School's Expansion Divides West Dallas Neighborhood, Dallas Morning News  

West Dallas Council Candidates Turn Affordable Housing Crisis into Weapon Against the Incumbent, Dallas Morning News