When the Dallas Housing Authority recently announced plans to place permanent supportive housing units in various locations around the city, it didn’t sit well with some of the nearby residents. In Oak Cliff, neighbors enlisted the support of Councilman Dave Neumann, and in Lake Highlands, neighbors took issue with Councilman Jerry Allen’s resigned approach.
But, as DHA CEO MaryAnn Russ explained at an Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce committee meeting last week, neither of these councilmen has the authority to determine where the DHA can and cannot place subsidized housing units, either permanent supportive or otherwise. The DHA operates as an arm of the federal HUD, and “the city does not have sign-off on this process,” Russ says.
So the argument that our tax dollars are paying for apartment units that house the formerly homeless and incarcerated? That all depends on what tax dollars are being referenced.
Russ was clear that the DHA receives no money from the state, and no money from the city. The tax dollars with which it operates come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), so they are federal tax dollars. The DHA also collects rent paid by individuals and families living in its ho