\t\t\t\t\tOverview:<\/p>\n
The 2nd Annual Housing Summit in Dallas discussed the city’s housing crisis, including gentrification, disinvestment, and environmental justice. Panelists offered solutions such as “gentle-fication,” mixed-income development, and community land control. However, the summit also highlighted the need for policies that protect tenants from predatory evictions and prioritize preservation and repair of legacy homes to prevent displacement. The summit revealed that Dallas knows what to do, but the question for 2026 is whether it will finally choose to do it.<\/p>\n
The 2nd Annual Housing Summit, hosted by Dallas Housing Coalition convened in November 2025 at UNT Dallas. The summit brought together dozens of non-profits, policy analysts, architects, developers, and civil servants to connect and strategize around housing in Dallas, and the greater DFW Metroplex.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dallas Weekly sat in on two panels at the summit to bring our readers highlights from those conversations. From policy analysis to personal testimonies, the new year provides the Dallas community with an opportunity to take all the talk out of the reception halls and into the streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Monte Anderson, Options Real Estate Investments, Inc<\/p>\n
Stephanie Behring, Re:Studio Architecture & Real Estate<\/p>\n
Paul Carden, Venture Commercial<\/p>\n
Benje Feehan, buildingcommunityWORKSHOP<\/p>\n
Dallas Developers Rebrand Gentrification\u00a0<\/p>\n
The morning\u2019s first panel set the stage with an interesting new term. Monte Anderson, a self-described \u201ctown maker\u201d and developer, attempted to draw a contrast between gentrification and what he called \u201cgentle-fication.\u201d<\/p>\n
DW: \u201cCould you give us your definition of gentrification, and how is that different from the term you used, gentle-fication?\u201d <\/p>\n
MA: \u201cGentrification is when the big corporate developers are coming to town and wiping out whole blocks. Gentle-fication is sticking it to the man. So it\u2019s when the locals get ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anderson pointed to the Bishop Arts District, where zoning changes and TIF policies triggered land value spikes that caused a wave of dispossession and displacement. In contrast, he offered the example of a successful project in Duncanville: his company converted a 30 x 90 square foot commercial building into a multi-unit mixed use property. This allowed for a Latino business owner who was previously leasing his barbershop space, to become the owner of that building, and generate supplemental income from the other available units. He suggests that Juan Trejo\u2019s successful transition of the Texas Fadez Barbershop is a perfect example of what he calls \u201cgentle-fication\u201d.<\/p>\n
Architect Stephanie Behring pushed back gently, reframing the crisis. \u201cDisinvestment is actually causing more problems than gentrification,\u201d she argued, highlighting the slow decay of neighborhoods the market has ignored.<\/p>\n
Anderson\u2019s most revealing moment came with his \u201croommate house\u201d presentation: a 3,000-square-foot, single-family-zoned home hacked into five separate rental units. Each has a locking door and a high-powered wet bar\u2014not a full kitchen, a distinction that keeps it technically compliant. Anderson emphasized that a key component to this strategy is to separate each unit with a locking door that can be opened to make it appear as only one unit when a code inspector visits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to be able to split this house up into multiple units, but it\u2019s single-family zoned. It didn\u2019t meet the zoning, so we hacked the code, and this is how we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monte Anderson<\/p>\n
Curbcuts and Schools<\/p>\n
Oak Cliff developer Paul Carden dissected how \u201ccurb cuts\u201d\u2014the driveway access points in single-family suburbs\u2014create pedestrian collision points. Denser, gentle multifamily development, he argued, can actually be safer by reducing these conflicts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf your driveway is from the rear, then you\u2019re not having driveways cross sidewalks. And it just works so much better. So promote alleys.\u201d\u2013Stephanie Behring<\/p>\n
During the Q&A portion, Lisa Marshall, a homelessness advocate, pointed to the human cost of school closures in relation to housing. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the school\u2026 It\u2019s the teachers\u2026 the janitor, the kitchen staff. Does that play into your presentations when you\u2019re going for permitting?\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul Carden emphasized that walkability, mixed-income development, and community amenities in attracting and retaining families, is central to attracting families and revitalizing school populations. He drew from a personal experience of choosing to stay in Dallas over other suburban parts of the metroplex, as it\u2019s become increasingly common for Millennial and Gen Z families to choose urban density over suburban sprawl.<\/p>\n
Gloria Ardilla, Dallas Free Press+Josephine Torres Cultural and Community Center<\/p>\n
Nicole Raphiel, St.Phillip\u2019s School & Community Center<\/p>\n
Victor Toledo, Greenleaf Ventures<\/p>\n
Froswa\u2019 Booker-Drew, Soulstice Consultancy- Moderator<\/p>\n
The keynote panel, moderated by Dr. Froswa\u2019 Booker-Drew, plunged deeper into the history of intentional neglect. Gloria Ardilla, co-founder of the Josephine Torres Cultural Center, traced current displacement back to 1909 when the City of Dallas hired German-born city planner George Kessler to develop a water management and long-range growth plan for the city. In this plan <\/a>Kessler gives his assessment of Dallas\u2019 existing infrastructure. He described a \u201clack of uniformity in sizes of blocks and arrangement in the street\u201d resulting in over-congestion. \u201cSince then\u2026 nothing has changed,\u201d Ardilla asserted, framing Dallas\u2019 housing crisis as a\u00a0 century-long continuum of weaponized incompetence.<\/p>\n Victor Toledo of Greenleaf Ventures pointed to new tools, like Texas Senate Bill 840<\/a>\u2014which prevents cities from prohibiting multifamily housing in commercial zones\u2014and the Dallas Public Facility Corporation as mechanisms to build affordable stock.<\/p>\n During the Q&A, an audience member raised concerns about a comment Victor Toledo made related to redeveloping or developing near industrial sites earlier in the conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I heard you talk about 200 acres of multi-family housing on \u2018heavy industry\u2019, I got a little bit triggered. Can you talk a little bit about what you as a developer will do and the city of Dallas will do to ensure that the children who live in that community will not be affected by that heavy industry?\u201d<\/p>\n In response, Toledo offers to initiate and pay for legal proceedings to address GAF or other bad environmental actors in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you need somebody to start the lawsuit or to initiate the action to get rid of them, I will certainly do that at my own expense.\u201d<\/p>\n This exchange is an example of the ongoing struggle against environmental injustice in the West Dallas and Joppa community. Moreover, tensions at this past summit prove that this will likely be a point of contention in 2026. Most developers and city officials treat the implications of a project\u2019s proximity to heavy industrial businesses as an after thought, while residents and community advocates are constantly reminding them of the adverse effects pollutants have had on public health.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a 2024 health survey<\/a> of the Singleton Corridor reported figures like 24% of participants experiencing lead poisoning, and 32% with cancer. The Singleton\/Westmoreland Authorized Hearing was held just 3 days before on November 18, 2025 at the West Dallas Multipurpose Center. Another hearing is scheduled for January 13, 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cA Policy Issue\u201d: Evictions and Illegal Dumping<\/p>\n Drawing a direct line from the illegal dumping documented in Fair Park\u2019s shadow, I posed a question to the panel: \u201cHow can we stop landlords and developers from weaponizing law enforcement to violently evict tenants and dump their belongings on South Dallas streets?\u201d<\/p>\n The Dallas County Sheriff & Constable offices play a crucial role in the final stages of the legal eviction process, primarily in serving official paperwork and physically enforcing a court-ordered Writ of Possession if a tenant does not vacate voluntarily.<\/p>\n Nicole Raphiel of St. Philip\u2019s responded briefly stating, \u201cThat\u2019s a policy issue. That\u2019s just 100% policy issue.\u201d<\/p>\n