FORT WORTH, Texas — Throughout Fort Worth, signs of the city’s rapid growth are hard to miss, from new buildings to infrastructure expansion. But with that rapid growth comes challenges, one of the biggest is not enough affordable housing.
“It's very dire,” said Fort Worth neighborhood development coordinator Sarah Odle. “The City of Fort Worth is one of the fastest growing cities in America. We're in the top ten, and there's not enough affordable housing, just there's not.”
Since 2020, rent prices in Cowtown are up 22.8% - squeezing the market and creating a crisis where rates are outpacing incomes – leaving many struggling to find a place to live.
Odle and her department are now pushing the Fort Worth City Council to adopt a measure that could help ease the problem.
“They are going to be voting on making a change to the neighborhood empowerment zone policy and removing the option for developers of multifamily complexes, the option to pay $200 per unit in lieu of setting aside affordable housing,” she said.
The amendment would make it so that all developers wanting to build in those zones must dedicate 20% of their units to tenants who qualify for affordable housing, getting rid of their ability to opt out and still receive a tax incentive.
When asked if it may dissuade developers from building in Fort Worth, Odle says it’s a small possibility.
“It may a little bit, but overall they're still going to see the benefit of the tax abatement,” Odle said.
So far, the council has signaled it will likely approve the change.
“We know that we gain about 20,000 new residents annually and those folks are coming to work at the businesses that we're attracting,” said Elizabeth Beck, the councilwoman for Fort Worth District 9. “And so we have to make sure that we stay competitive in that market and that we continue to grow in a really positive way”
If approved, the change will go into effect immediately for all new developers.