Roseland Townhomes photographed on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Dallas.
Smiley N. Pool/Staff Photographer
Dallas City Council on Wednesday gave a unanimous, key stamp of approval needed to renovate Roseland Townhomes and Roseland Estates, the neighboring public housing complexes featured in a 2025 Dallas Morning News investigation into failed efforts to reduce crime at the complex.
The city’s signoff clears the way for the Dallas Housing Authority, which owns Roseland, to seek financing in the form of federal tax credits through the state’s housing department. If the state gives the go-ahead the $82 million renovation is expected to be complete two years after the deal closes.
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The News’ investigation focused on the city and DHA’s failure to make good on a 2018 crime prevention agreement, signed by then-City Manager T.C. Broadnax and DHA Chief Executive Troy Broussard. The agreement called for city, DHA and police officials to meet regularly, share information on troubled properties, create crime reduction plans for Roseland and other DHA complexes, keep records and hold routine progress briefings.
But the investigation revealed that the meetings eventually stopped, and the record-keeping and briefings never happened. Roseland, located just east of Central Expressway and a few blocks north of downtown, ranked among the city’s most dangerous properties. Police had recommended installing gates at vehicle entrances and DHA’s board had approved the expense, but the housing authority put the gates on pause until the renovation.
At a public hearing during Wednesday’s city council meeting, when DHA staff referenced the pause, councilmember Cara Mendelsohn asked how the council could be sure the gates would finally be installed.
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“Respectfully, you yourself admitted that you have had this in your budget for a number of years and not done it,” Mendelsohn said, and also asked if there was a security plan for Roseland.
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Debbie Quitugua, a DHA vice president, told Mendelsohn the agency was committed to funding gates and new lighting, and that it would have a security plan.
Quitugua said DHA would have the plan in a month, and Mendelsohn said she would invite the DHA to the city’s housing committee in May to discuss safety.
The News’ investigation also found that the city could have treated Roseland and other high-crime DHA properties with enforcement steps it requires of privately-owned high-crime properties but chose not to.
Despite some security efforts by DHA since the agreement was signed, The News found, at least seven people, four of them children, have been killed at Roseland. At least 20 others have been wounded by gunfire.
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At the end of 2024, DHA offered residents an opportunity to move out ahead of the planned renovations. Most took it. A new security firm, hired specifically to patrol Roseland, took over and crime dropped.
Then, in June 2025, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert scrapped the 2018 agreement altogether.
Tolbert replaced the agreement with a new plan — one she spelled out in a letter to Broussard — that again aims to prevent crime, but requires fewer meetings, no record keeping and no briefings to DHA commissioners and the City Council.
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The housing authority will continue to collaborate with law enforcement and the city to combat crime, a spokeswoman told The News.
The two complexes, which contain a total of 290 units, are still largely empty of residents today. Most units are boarded up.
A cat strolls past vacant units bearing security doors and window coverings at Roseland Townhomes photographed on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Dallas.
Smiley N. Pool/Staff Photographer
Under the new plan, the two complexes will operate as one, be called Roseland Homes, and contain 276 units, according to a memo DHA sent to the city’s housing department in advance of seeking the city council’s blessing.
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Three residential buildings will be demolished to construct a new management office building that will contain a resident library, a business center and a community meeting space.
Other planned work includes new gutters, roofs, doors, windows and HVAC, interior renovation and new appliances.
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All units will be affordable to families making at or below 60% of the area’s median income, or about $70,000 a year for a family of four. Rents will be based on income and residents can use housing vouchers.
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In addition to federal tax-credits, financing to complete the renovation will include revenue from bonds issued by DHA.
Council member Paul Ridley, whose district includes the Roseland properties, said in an interview Tuesday that he was hopeful the property upgrades would deter crime as residents move back into the units. He said Broussard had been “forthright” in discussions with the city around crime and the terms of the new agreement.