Fort Worth has continued to take steps to address housing affordability even as staff turnover and lack of funding have slowed implementation of its plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Presenting at a Community Development Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon, the Fort Worth Neighborhood Services Department said it has completed or started 36 of the 41 recommendations proposed in the Neighborhood Conservation Plan and Housing Affordability Strategy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The report is a comprehensive roadmap to address distressed neighborhoods and the city\u2019s housing affordability crisis over a five-year period. An update from a January 2025 formal report<\/a> on progress indicated then that 23 of the 41 recommendations had been completed or started.<\/p>\n Kacey Thomas, neighborhood services director, said meaningful impact and progress has been made toward completing the goals of the Neighborhood Conservation Plan and Housing Affordability Strategy. The problems in reaching them have mainly involved lack of staffing, funding and competing priorities, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to be more proactive in working with our departments and our external organizations to make sure we really are keeping our eye on the ball,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThat this report isn\u2019t one that gets stuck on the shelf but really making sure that we are making meaningful progress toward these activities.\u201d<\/p>\n The 41 recommendations can be addressed by neighborhood services, other city departments and external partners. The Neighborhood Conservation Plan received 17 recommendations, and the other 24 were for the Housing Affordability Strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thomas said 16 of the 17 recommendations for the Neighborhood Conservation Plan were started or completed.\u00a0<\/p>\n One recommendation was to maintain a list of vacant properties to seal, demolish or acquire. The planning division has mapped vacant residential lots and is helping to develop a database of undeveloped city-owned parcels to identify potential residential development opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n