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Homes to build hope in Valwood Park

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Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to reflect the correct neighborhoood name of Valwood Park.

A few families in Farmers Branch soon will catch a break in housing.

Builders of Hope Community Development Corp. has teamed up with Farmers Branch through the city’s Neighborhood Renaissance Program to build and sell five homes for less than market rate in Valwood Park, located between Valwood Parkway and Valley View Lane with Bee Street on the west and Josey Lane on the east.

The single-family homes that are part of The Porches at Valwood Park will sell for no more than $330,000.

“There’s an income restriction tied to it,” said Allison Cook, director of Economic development for Farmers Branch at the Farmers Branch City Council Study Session March 5. “The income restriction is within the area median income as defined by Dallas County and it is a table … It’s a little complicated … We have chosen to go 120 percent or below of area median income. That can be for one person. That can be for two adults with three kids. It can be for two adults with five kids. So, however their family looks like as far as total income and how many people live in a home, that will be the indication if they are over 120 percent of area median income, because if they are, they make too much money to purchase the home.”

Down payment assistance and a grant from Dallas County is available, bringing the buyer’s price down to $295,000 to $310,000 if the buyer qualifies for both subsidies. 

Buyers will not be allowed to sell the homes for seven years without penalty, Cook said.

The project and partnership between Builders of Hope and Farmers Branch will increase families’ upwards mobility and “serve as a cornerstone for constructing and preserving workforce housing and fostering economic mobility for families,” said Chris Lewis, chief housing development officer for Builders of Hope, during the ground-breaking ceremony March 6 at Pepper Park.

He said Farmers Branch residents will get first priority in the application process.

“The foundation of Builders of Hope is anti-gentrification,” he said. “We’re specifically prioritizing legacy residents in Farmers Branch. It could be families who work for the city, the school, first responders.”

The cause is dear to those who work for Builders of Hope, he said, because they are from Oak Cliff and West Dallas and have faced housing difficulties themselves. 

“We’re all local natives who care about local housing.”

Even Builders of Hope President and CEO James Armstrong said he’s affected by the rising prices of housing.

“I know what it feels like to have development pressuring pushing you out,” he said. “I feel that every single day.”

He’s concerned enough about gentrification that he and the others at Builders of Hope worked with the City of Dallas to create an anti-displacement toolkit. 

“We would. Not be involved in anything that would push residents out,” he said. “We would walk before that happens. That’s not who we are.”

Ensuring attainable housing for workers is crucial to Farmers Branch’s long-term well-being, said Mayor Terry Lynne. Rising property values and new construction make homeownership difficult for many people. He said the square footage of the homes is deliberately being kept below 1,700 square feet to allow the homes to blend into the surrounding neighborhoods and keep tax rates reasonable for homeowners.

“That famous American Dream of homeownership should be attainable to all,” he said during the ceremony. “This program helps to create instant net worth on one’s balance sheet due to the incentives this program offers, which is great thing for the folks that are going to be living in these homes.”

During the ground-breaking ceremony, Cook noted that while many homes in Farmers Branch feature porches, they are too shallow to sit and enjoy in all weather.

“That deep porch is where you can sit and talk to your neighbors … and is really missing,” she said. “When you have homes so close to each other, it’s such a beautiful thing to have … a network outside that you can see one another and wave to them if you have the opportunity to be outside.”

The five homes feature three different floor plans, all with three or four bedrooms and 2.5 or three bathroom and a two-car garage. Each home will have a deep porch that is at least 300 square feet and feature a mounted swing.

One home, located at 2560 Wicker Ave., will have a J-swing driveway.

“This will kind of negate and mitigate some of the parking issues on the street that we’ve seen,” Lewis said.

The lots where the homes will be built are within a half mile of each other north of Vivian Field Middle School. Their addresses are 2629 Squire Place, 2568 Greenhurst Dr., 2646 Greenhurst Dr., 2560 Wicker Ave. and 2563 Wasina Dr.

The work Builders of Hope does feels personal to Tiaira Erwin, business banker for Simmons Bank, which is partnering with Builders of Hope on The Porches of Valwood Park. 

As a single mother of two children, she thought homeownership was out of the realm of possibilities for her. She moved around for 13 years, but said she knew she needed the stability of homeownership for her children. 

“They don’t have to keep changing friends, keep changing schools,” she said.

Although she didn’t find her way to homeownership through Builders of Hope, she said she’s gone into working with them with a passion.

Working with Farmers Branch has not followed Builders of Hope’s typical process, Armstrong said. 

“We really lead with community,” he said. “It’s kind of backwards, but we hope to rectify that with community meetings. I want to hear what the community wants, what the community needs, what the community fears.”

If everything goes smoothly with the development of these five homes, Armstrong and Cook hope the partnership will continue with the other 15 lots the city owns as part of the Neighborhood Renaissance Program.

“This is going to be a fantastic opportunity to fill a gap that we know is a nationwide problem,” Cook said.

To learn more about The Porches at Valwood Parkway and apply for homeownership, visit https://www.bohcdc.com/valwood.