Just days after the Child Poverty Action Lab released a report revealing a massive shortage in affordable apartments, 279 housing units were approved under the city’s Public Facility Corporation financing structure. Savoy Equity Partners will develop the mixed-income multifamily Bishop Ridge development at 624 and 627 North Lancaster Ave., 405 North Ewing Ave., and 303 East Jefferson Blvd. The PFC will enter a 75-year lease agreement with Dallas-based Savoy.
Under the PFC structure, the property is taken off the tax rolls for 75 years and the developer agrees to provide at least half the units at an affordable rate.
District 1 Councilman Chad West, who represents the area where Bishop Ridge is planned, said costs for renters are rapidly climbing.
“We’re seeing a lot of people get priced out of the North Oak Cliff area,” he said. “This is going to be an opportunity for long-term affordable housing.”
The estimated revenue forgone is about $470,862, representing 15 years of estimated taxes, according to the resolution adopted by Dallas City Council at its Aug. 9 meeting.
Bishop Ridge And Bringing Affordable Housing to North Oak Cliff
Dallas is facing a shortage of more than 33,000 affordable homes, according to CPAL’s Rental Housing Needs Assessment.
West referenced the report when commenting about the project at the City Council meeting earlier this month. It passed on the consent agenda and wasn’t pulled for further discussion.
“There was a recent report … that said we are drastically behind at the below-60-percent [area median income] level of rental housing and it’s going to get worse in terms of 30,000-plus in the years to come of not meeting the need,” West said. “We want to continue to push these projects out in a responsible way, being thoughtful to the tax dollars that we are giving up to put into affordable housing.”
The plan for Bishop Ridge includes 37 studio units, 175 one-bedroom units, 55 two-bedroom units, and 12 three-bedroom units.
Of the units planned for Bishop Ridge, 136 will be leased at market rate. At least 113 of the 279 units will be available for households earning less than 80 percent of the area median income, and 30 units are designated for households earning less than 60 percent of the AMI.
“I believe in mixing market rate along with workforce housing and not just putting all of one together,” West said.
