James Armstrong’s first experience with affordable housing occurred when he was about 5 years old, sleeping on a twin mattress with his mother and sister in the projects of West Dallas.
HIs mother, who at the time worked as a janitor at Head Start of Greater Dallas, had to briefly live in a homeless shelter to move to the top of the list for that tiny apartment, Armstrong said.
“I remember her dropping my sister and I off at a family member’s house and she went to stay in a shelter for about a month so we could get into the low-income apartment,” he said.
Now the president and CEO of Builders of Hope Community Development Corporation, Armstrong also leads the congregation on Sunday mornings at Community Fellowship Church.
His mother, by the way, “pulled herself from the grips of poverty” and is now an executive director with Head Start.
“Her story is just as aspirational and impactful as mine,” Armstrong said. “Her story is my story. That hard work that I saw in her led me back to serve in West Dallas after graduating Baylor and spending time in corporate America.”
Armstrong has been leading Builders of Hope for about five years, but the organization itself has been around for a quarter of a century, providing affordable and workforce housing in West Dallas, Oak Cliff, and Pleasant Grove.
Armstrong has been hailed by marginalized communities as a person willing to not only build homes but help residents apply for grants and protest their property valuations.
“When I came on board, the organization was in bad shape,” he said. “I was able to garner the right partnerships, pay off bad debt, sell off legacy assets, and really deliver a new model for community development that is less dependent on city subsidy and resources and is more partnership-driven.”
Remember his name. He’ll no doubt be among the daltxrealestate.com Newsmakers of the Year for 2023.
Builders of Hope
Builders of Hope began as a housing initiative of Voice of Hope Ministries and was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1998. It was renamed Builders of Hope in 2002.
“The organization historically has had really healthy housing production — over 500 homes built, three major subdivisions, impacting two communities — West Dallas and East Dallas,” Armstrong said. “The organization has had tremendous success in bringing transformation to Dallas’ urban neighborhoods.”
Builders of Hope broke ground Nov. 10 on a $5.7 million single-family project on Bickers Street in West Dallas. The development will house 20 low- to moderate-income families.
“Everyone deserves the opportunity for economic mobility,” Armstrong told daltxrealestate.com. “We are a catalyst for economic mobility, whether it’s through our displacement initiatives that are protecting legacy residents, affordable housing programs that are delivering instant equity to low- to moderate-income buyers, our public safety initiatives in Mill City, or our West Dallas Vision Plan. All of these things go back to the fact that we live in a city where economic mobility is not accessible for all. That is what we have to fix.”
More Than Affordable Housing
Armstrong’s personal experience allowed him to see the impact that accessible affordable housing can have on Dallas families.
“The fact that my mom had to take two buses to get to work — it affected education, transportation, and workforce opportunities,” he said. “She was limited in what jobs she could apply for. Housing is the cornerstone not only for building healthy, thriving communities, it’s the cornerstone for building healthy, thriving lives.”
In addition to building homes, Builders of Hope also has partnered with tax preparers like Tobin Toler to help residents with complicated paperwork.
They also have created an anti-displacement toolkit for the City of Dallas and agreed to assist with community outreach for the controversial Dallas County development Cottonwood Forest.
“We see the greatest opportunity for impact in the local neighborhood,” Armstrong said. “What are the things that are barriers to homeowners remaining in their homes? What are the things that could lead to displacement? We know property tax is a major concern. Property tax is something that we have to tackle. While we’re working on the systemic part, we also have to provide the service part. The service part looks like setting up seminars to give homeowners one-on-one counseling to not only file their homestead exemption but contest their property valuation.”
What’s next for Builders of Hope? The sky’s the limit.
“We’ve built a model that is heavy on the partnerships and heavy on the diversity of projects,” Armstrong said. “We’ve expanded our geographical service area to include the entire Dallas County. That is a stark change in how BOH operated in the past.”
The community development corporation will continue to prioritize affordable housing, neighborhood engagement and protection, and equity.
“When you look at the Dallas development cycle, it’s not always kind to neighborhood self-determination,” Armstrong said. “It often prioritizes private developers’ interests over that of local neighborhoods. I don’t think that’s how we want to build our city. I think we want equitable neighborhoods with diverse populations, housing, and income because all research points to the fact that the more diverse a neighborhood is, the more vibrant and successful it will be.”
