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. (The Communities Foundation of Texas is a supporter of The Dallas Morning News’ Future of North Texas initiative.)
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.
D-FW Real Estate News
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 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.”
Housing goals
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
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.
Communities Foundation plans to release a scorecard next year to track progress in addressing the region’s housing challenges, Dechausay said.
President and CEO of Frazier Revitalization Felisa Conner listens 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
Addressing those challenges will involve investments, grants, and research on both immediate and long-term housing needs, Dechausay said. Communities Foundation has already created a $5 million loan and grant fund for early investments into the initiative.
For instance, Communities Foundation awarded a $250,000 grant to the buildingcommunityWORKSHOP, also called bcWORKSHOP, which performs modular construction to reduce costs and build homes faster.
Benje Feehan, bcWORKSHOP’s executive director, told The News the Communities Foundation is doing great work by pulling together everyone involved in the housing production process.
“There’s no silver bullet, because it’s not a singular problem,” Feehan said.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.