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Despite an economic boom in Dallas-Fort Worth, the persistence and volume of these vacant lots signal urban decay. Left to fester, research shows these neglected patches bring blight<\/a>, rising crime rates and plummeting real estate values instead of growing families and community wellbeing.<\/p>\n Vacant lots are\u00a0typically a feature of cities in post-industrial decline<\/a>. In Dallas, however, many residents, builders and urban development experts regard these empty lots as a physical manifestation of the systemic racism<\/a> the city still struggles to overcome.<\/p>\n Making It Count, Inc. nonprofit owner Rhonda Willingham walks past an overgrown city owned vacant lot on Metropolitan Avenue in the Mill City neighborhood on Dec. 5, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n \u201dThis area was redlined for many years and it still is, even though they don’t say it,\u201d said Monte Anderson, president of Options Real Estate, a firm in Dallas.<\/p>\n \u201cBanks won\u2019t lend in many parts of southern Dallas because it’s deteriorated so bad you can’t get a return.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The lack of infrastructure, such as water pipes, sewers and sidewalks, poses a fundamental challenge for the redevelopment of vacant lots in these historically disinvested neighborhoods, according to James McGee, president of Southern Dallas Progress.<\/p>\n Related: Vacant lots in southern Dallas could help ease region’s housing crisis<\/a><\/p>\n The city had previously either failed to fully develop the network or maintain it, leaving residents there to carry on without basic amenities, said Kevin Shepherd, CEO of Verdunity, a firm that studies the fiscal health of cities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually set policy and plans in place that are causing our demise,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n The city of Dallas said that as of May 2026, about 100,000 feet of new pipelines had been installed or approved for construction to make water and wastewater service available to 46 residential areas, primarily in southern Dallas, that previously did not have any.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThese areas were primarily serviced by private septic tanks and some, but not all, had existing city water services,\u201d according to a statement from Dallas Water Utilities. Work is on to plan and secure land access to extend service to three other areas.<\/p>\n The work on these projects is focused on serving existing residents, according to the city, but they make it possible for nearby vacant properties to receive water and wastewater service in the future when developed.<\/p>\n Related: Southern Dallas vacant lots show how redlining still shapes growth<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n But in the effort to revitalize these lands, the city of Dallas is looking to developers to take on the cost of that neglect \u2014 the cost of installing or improving the infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cDevelopers are responsible for infrastructure-related items needed to develop projects they are interested in,\u201d the city told the News, adding there are incentives to help with costs.<\/p>\n And developers are not having it.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Small developers say installing the infrastructure will raise construction budgets beyond their funding capacities. Large-scale developers don\u2019t see a return on investment for the level of work these small, disconnected vacant lots need.<\/p>\n Even so, some local builders The News interviewed still want to rehabilitate these lots. But they say red tape and bureaucracy are driving their efforts to a grinding halt.<\/p>\n City spokespeople responded to questions from The News with answers involving several departments.<\/p>\n For example, one statement from a code compliance perspective said properties should be maintained regardless of development.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cRedevelopment is ultimately one of the most effective long-term solutions for reducing blight and returning properties to productive use,” however infrastructure, financing and development processes are outside of the department’s realm, according to the statement.<\/p>\n \u201cDevelopers don’t develop for charity,\u201d said Pastor Chris Simmons of Cornerstone Baptist Church in South Dallas.<\/p>\n Simmons initiated the Cornerstone Community Development Corporation to revive some of South Dallas\u2019 most blighted areas. The organization has already acquired a number of vacant properties to build new affordable homes for residents to move back in.<\/p>\n On one of their projects, the infrastructure repairs amount to $40,000 to $50,000, he said, reiterating nonprofits like his, \u201calready working with paper-thin margins,\u201d cannot build affordably then.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot do this without the city’s help,\u201d the pastor said. \u201cDevelopment will be stalled. It will not happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Water flows up out of the road from a busted water main on Baldwin Street near Collins Avenue in the Mill City neighborhood on Dec. 13, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Chris Lewis, president and CEO of Builders of Hope, another local nonprofit focused on housing, emphasized there is homebuyer interest in these neighborhoods. But even with financial backing, the infrastructure repair costs for such projects are too high.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s no way nonprofit developers should have to cover that gap due to historical disinvestment,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cWe just shouldn’t have to bear that.\u201d<\/p>\n \nBy the numbers\u00a0<\/p>\n In a 2023 study of construction activity and vacant land<\/a> across major cities in the U.S., Dallas topped the list with over 90,000 acres of vacant land. San Antonio and Houston also ranked among the top five.<\/p>\n This year, as of July 10, 2026, over 87,000 acres of land lie vacant in the city, according to the News analysis of city land use data published by Southern Dallas Progress. An additional 2,300 acres hold vacant structures.<\/p>\n Nearly 10%, or 2,652 of over 26,500 empty plots, are city-owned and about 62% of all vacant lots are in council districts of 1, 3,\u00a0 4, 5, 7 and 8, south of I-30.<\/p>\n Vacant land can\u2019t be addressed with a broad brush, said council member Lorie Blair, who represents the city\u2019s southernmost District 8, which sprawls across Dallas from east to west. Some neighborhoods that are missing houses are gaining them. Others have residents who prefer a rural lifestyle and even raise livestock.<\/p>\n A man uses a well-worn footpath to cut through a privately owned vacant lot on Metropolitan Avenue in the Mill City neighborhood on Nov. 15, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n About a third of vacant properties, or more than 10,300 vacant lots, lie in formerly redlined areas where homeowners faced discriminatory banking practices and\u00a0disinvestment, according to a News analysis of land use data, demonstrating the long-lasting effects of discriminatory policies.<\/p>\n Tennell Atkins, who formerly represented Blair\u2019s district, said the city does not have the budget to overhaul the infrastructure in the area of all vacant lots, so city officials take it up piece by piece.<\/p>\n Federal dollars in the past have led to infrastructure improvements in his district, he said, but the scope of work is so enormous, it has driven up vacancies and kept developers away. It\u2019s difficult for developers to come if they\u2019re having to spend most of their money on infrastructure, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just ain’t gonna come,\u201d he said, \u201cThey\u2019ll go somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that in order to grow a strong Dallas, the city has to invest dollars on both sides of the Trinity River, to the north and the south. \u201cThey\u2019ve got to be balanced,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re unbalanced.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause you over-invested in the north, you have nowhere to go. You have all this land out here to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\u2018The stuff that will help residents every day\u2019\u00a0\n<\/p>\n In 2022, the Mill City Community Association partnered with Builders of Hope to erect fences on vacant lots and encourage urban renewal.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s up to the property owners to maintain them, said Alendra Lyons, the association\u2019s founder. City-funded repairs are underway in many parts, she said, but more work remains. The area still needs more street lights, sidewalks and better roads.<\/p>\n Poor internet connectivity is another infrastructure issue, said Antong Lucky, who leads Good Urban Development, which aims to bring dozens of homes to Mill City.<\/p>\n The digital divide is real, he said, describing broadband problems around his mother\u2019s house.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to just think how that affects children who are doing school work,\u201d Lucky said, \u201cHow it affects you trying to log on and look for a job.\u201d<\/p>\n Working on basic infrastructure is slower to fix, said Anderson, but more sustainable in the long-term.<\/p>\n \u201cDallas likes to spend money on big, shiny projects like convention centers and bridges,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cWe don’t do the basics, the stuff that will help residents every day.\u201d<\/p>\n As in most cities, he said, elected officials are under pressure to show quick successes. Mill City Community Association President Alendra Lyons stands in her living room and talks about items made during workshops at her nonprofit Mill City Teaching Farm on Dec. 5, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n \n\u2018The problems keep coming\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n In the Tenth Street Historic District in Oak Cliff, code violation notices litter several vacant lots. Some blocks show signs of revival with homes under construction and newer pavement. Others still have vacant lots.<\/p>\n Tenth Street\u2019s collection of heritage dwellings<\/a> is one of the few remaining intact freedman’s towns in the U.S.<\/a>, where enslaved African Americans, once liberated, settled after the Civil War.<\/p>\n Efforts to rebuild the district are underway. However, the city\u2019s full attention to this nationally significant historic neighborhood is \u201cstill lacking,\u201d said McGee of Southern Dallas Progress, who is working toward the community\u2019s revitalization.<\/p>\n The enduring presence of vacant lots means continuous blight, McGee said.<\/p>\n \u201cContinuous trash, homeless people, illegal activity \u2013 it attracts all that, and it makes it harder to sell or rent,\u201d he said, adding some neighborhoods do still try to maintain their vacant lots despite the challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problems just kept coming and coming,\u201d said Porscha Kelley, an Oak Cliff resident, who took up ownership of five lots in South Dallas so \u201cthey’re just not vacant vagrant areas.\u201d<\/p>\n For Kelley, it\u2019s a challenge to maintain vacant lots that the city holds her responsible for.<\/p>\n \u00a0Besides getting the yard cut on a regular basis, you have people ditching stolen cars, she said, \u201cPeople dumping trash and construction debris. I\u2019ve dealt with all those things.\u201d<\/p>\n When people see the blight, they don\u2019t buy, McGee said. Then there\u2019s more blight.<\/p>\n Southern Dallas Progress President James McGee shows a photo of a home he rebuilt on Church Street in the Tenth Street Historic District on Nov. 14, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer Southern Dallas Progress President and Board Chair James McGee walks out the backdoor of a home his organization is renovating on Church Street in the Tenth Street Historic District on Nov. 14, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer Southern Dallas Progress President and Board Chair James McGee explains renovations on Church Street home in the Tenth Street Historic District on Nov. 14, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer Southern Dallas Progress President and Board Chair James McGee exits a Church Street home his organization is renovating in the Tenth Street Historic District on Nov. 14, 2025, in Dallas. He said dirt was pushed into the front yard of the homes along Church Street partially burying front doors in some cases during street repaving.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer Southern Dallas Progress President and Board Chair James McGee walks over to a Cliff Street home his organization is renovating in the Tenth Street Historic District on Nov. 14, 2025, in Dallas. McGee said the home was originally built over the property line on a neighboring lot and had to be moved about a foot and a half misaligning the steps which will be moved.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer Southern Dallas Progress President and Board Chair James McGee walks into a Cliff Street home his organization is renovating neighboring a vacant lot in the Tenth Street Historic District on Nov. 14, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer Southern Dallas Progress President and Board Chair James McGee enters a home his organization is rebuilding on Church Street in the Tenth Street Historic District on Nov. 14, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer Southern Dallas Progress President and Board Chair James McGee looks over the edge of a historic building his organization will renovate at Cliff and Tenth streets in the Tenth Street Historic District on Nov. 14, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n In 2015, the city engaged the Center for Community Progress, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping communities tackle vacancy and deterioration.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re working on the symptom of the problem instead of the problem itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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