Neighborhood Stabilization funds to help Dolphin Heights

BY LORI BETH LEMMON

Central Dallas CDC has been awarded $936,418 by The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. This funding is part of The Texas Neighborhood Stabilization Program, and will be put to work in the Greater Dolphin Heights Neighborhood in Southeast Dallas.

In a partnership with bcWORKSHOP and Central Dallas Ministries’ AmeriCorps staff, we will work with existing community organizations and social structures to eliminate and/or rehabilitate abandoned, blighted, and foreclosed properties in an effort to restore this distressed neighborhood to its former fortitude.

This effort is a true community effort – that is, we are looking to the community and its residents to provide the direction in terms of what their needs are. Within the course of one year, this program will touch at least 90 families in the Dolphin Heights neighborhood.

To advance this effort, a job-training program focusing on “green-collar jobs” will engage people living within or in close proximity to the Dolphin Heights Neighborhood. The training will develop hard and soft skills around the construction of homes to ultimately assist in pollution abatement, land, air and water remediation, and increased energy efficiency and conservation.

Through this process and with strong community leadership guiding the work, we will revitalize the neighborhood through community engagement, workforce development, context sensitive design, and green construction.



Program Background and Specifics (www.tdhca.state.tx.us)

• The Neighborhood Stabilization Program was established under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA).
• Through the NSP program, states, units of local government and nonprofits may purchase foreclosed or abandoned properties to demolish or create affordable housing to stabilize existing neighborhoods.
• Direct housing activities, such as down-payment assistance, home rehabilitation and low-interest loans, are targeted to households earning up to 120% of the Area Median Income (AMI) as defined by HUD. Over half (51%) of beneficiaries from indirect activities, such as demolition, must also meet this income requirement.