A third of Fort Worth struggles with housing costs. This $5M award could help fix that.
It could get easier to find an affordable house in Fort Worth
The city was awarded $5 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of a new Biden administration program aimed at increasing the supply of affordable housing.
The money will go to removing barriers to building affordable housing, Mayor Mattie Parker said at a press conference Tuesday.
That could involve reducing the cost of permitting, helping develop infrastructure, or other strategies in the city’s 2023 Affordable Housing Plan.
Roughly a third of Fort Worth households are paying more than 30% of their monthly income on housing and utilities, Parker said.
“It’s a challenge we’ve committed to as a city,” she said, noting the city’s partnerships with nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity, Fort Worth Housing Solutions and HUD.
Those partnerships set Fort Worth’s application apart, said HUD regional administrator Candace Valenzuela.
She highlighted the city’s ability to work with residents on what affordable housing should look like and how projects develop to address community needs.
“When they’re developing new things, people don’t assume that it’s gentrification. They realize that they have a voice on how things go up and that their needs are prioritized,” she said.
Fort Worth still has to work out with HUD exactly how the money will be spent, but Parker said it would be put to use right away.
City staff immediately left Tuesday’s press conference to begin those conversations with HUD, said Amy Connolly, assistant director of the city’s neighborhood services department.
The money could be used to set up a land bank where the city purchases property to develop for affordable housing, or could go to cover small funding gaps in affordable housing projects that stand in the way of those projects being built, she said.
City staff will work with HUD throughout July with the hope of having something for the City Council to approve in August, she said.
