Dallas City Hall is gearing up for a tough conversation over what many renters already know in their gut: finding an affordable place to live in the city has become a high-stress sport. This week, the Dallas City Council is expected to review new research that city leaders and housing advocates say confirms a steep shortage of affordable rentals within city limits, with prices climbing faster than paychecks and lower-cost options fading out of the market.
According to CBS News Texas, council members will be briefed on data showing Dallas does not have enough affordable housing as prices have skyrocketed, hitting renters especially hard. The station reports that the presentation is designed to pull those numbers squarely into the policy debate as council members weigh what to do next.
What the research found
The core of that briefing comes from the Child Poverty Action Lab’s 2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment. The report estimates that Dallas faces roughly a 46,000-unit shortfall of rental homes affordable to very low-income households, defined as 50 percent of area median income or below. It also finds that between 2021 and 2023, more than 50,000 rentals priced under $1,000 a month dropped out of the market, a major blow to the city’s naturally affordable stock. Child Poverty Action Lab analysts warn that most of the remaining affordable units are unsubsidized and exposed to market pressures that could push them out of reach.
As reported by The Texas Tribune, Ashley Flores, CPAL’s housing chief, summed it up bluntly: “It’s hard to be a renter in Dallas.” The Tribune notes that about half of the city’s renters are considered cost burdened, with single parents and older renters among those feeling the squeeze most intensely.
What City Hall could do
State law is rewriting part of the backdrop. Senate Bill 840, approved by the Texas Legislature last year, allows multifamily and mixed-use residential projects in many commercial and office zones and changes how cities can regulate certain types of development. The bill’s enrolled text lays out the specifics. Observers say those statewide rules, combined with the fresh data on rental shortages, will heavily influence which zoning and preservation levers the council can realistically pull. The full text is available from the Texas Legislature…