Dallas, TX Affordable Housing Nexus Study

City of Dallas, TX

Like many cities, Dallas has been working to address the City’s housing affordability challenges.  With over 237,000 Dallas households experiencing housing affordability and related housing problems - a figure that could grow to 272,000 by 2045 – the City engaged BAE to prepare a housing nexus study, to support development of affordable housing policies and programs.  The housing nexus study identifies the relationship between new market rate residential development and non-residential development and the demand for additional affordable housing, and provides an objective basis to establish affordable housing requirements.

BAE’s analysis began with a brief housing needs assessment to document current housing affordability gaps within the Dallas rental and for-sale housing markets. The nexus analysis then identified the new affordable housing demand created by new market rate housing and new non-residential development.  This is done using a methodology that examines representative prototype market-rate housing types and several prototype commercial real estate products and estimates the number and types of jobs and the resulting worker household income levels associated with occupancy of those prototypes.  The final component is a calculation of the maximum potential inclusionary housing requirements or in-lieu housing impact fees that could be justifiably imposed on market rate residential and non-residential developments. 

BAE recommended affordable housing program parameters based on best practices and evaluated potential affordable housing in-lieu fee options in the context of development feasibility, recommending fee levels that could be imposed without adversely affecting development feasibility.