Housing Access Initiative
One of the nation’s largest community foundations has launched a five-year, $50 million initiative to help increase housing access in the region. The Communities Foundation of Texas recently announced it has awarded over $4 million in the past several months in support of the initiative. The funds will provide support to several organizations and the city of Dallas to help build and preserve housing, according to the foundation.
Housing is problematic in North Texas because the region has failed to build homes fast enough to keep up with its rapid population growth, said Cullum Clark, director of the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative. Dallas is grappling with a potential shortfall of 76,000 affordable housing units by 2035, according to a report from the local nonprofit Child Poverty Action Lab, or CPAL.
Stewpot’s Brenda Snitzer and Danny Buford listen to speakers at a Communities Foundation Texas event announcing further investments in housing, in alignment with its focus on health, wealth, living, and learning, on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
D-FW, one of the country’s largest housing markets, saw median home values hit $389,500, and nearly 43% of renters in D-FW spent 35% or more of their income on housing, according to U.S. Census estimates. “We see a big mismatch between supply and demand,” said Ashley Flores, CPAL’s chief of housing. And “75% of single parents with kids are housing cost-burdened. They’re making really difficult trade-offs – preventative health care appointments, nutritious food, educational experiences for their kids – simply to keep a roof over their heads.”
Wayne White, president and CEO of Communities Foundation of Texas, called housing one of society’s most urgent challenges. Housing is the nonprofit’s third strategic initiative, followed by the North Texas Giving Day and Educate Texas initiatives. Communities Foundation aims to advance housing policy, production and preservation through the initiative, White said. To help do this, the foundation launched HouseDTX, a network of funders, advocates, planners and community leaders to help elevate housing solutions, he said.
The Initiative’s Goals
The foundation also plans to collaborate, convene and co-invest in stakeholders involved in housing in the region, White said. The foundation hopes additional companies and community leaders will come forward to help match the foundation’s investment, which will create a $100 million Housing Impact Fund, White said. “A home is more than a shelter,” White said. “It’s a foundation for hope, it’s a foundation for family, [and] it’s a foundation for a thriving community.”
Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, right, laughs with Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Gay Donnell Willis during a Communities Foundation Texas event announcing further investments in housing, in alignment with its focus on health, wealth, living, and learning, on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
City of Dallas’ Housing Goals
The new initiative fits well within the city of Dallas’ broader housing goal, which involves developing and preserving over 7,000 rentals and 3,500 homeownership units annually, said Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert. Meeting those goals will require public-private partnerships, Tolbert said.
Communities Foundation plans to coordinate and align efforts among the different segments of the housing market to address the fragmentation of the issue, said Nadine Dechausay, Communities Foundation’s chief strategy and insights officer. Through HouseDTX, Communities Foundation plans to launch three working groups in its first year, Dechausay said. One group will be a funders collective to help developers access capital, an advisory group, and a planning and policy group that will develop housing recommendations.
