HUD awards Fort Worth $5 million to improve housing affordability

FORT WORTH – The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded Fort Worth $5 million to expand housing supply and lower housing costs. The city will use the funds to build and redevelop affordable housing in underserved and historically challenged areas.

Currently, approximately 109,000 Fort Worth’s households spend more than a third of their income on housing. Fort Worth will help alleviate those burdens by identifying and removing barriers that traditionally prevent the city from improving its housing supply, availability and affordability.

Notably, the HUD award will allow the city to develop a neighborhood pattern book of pre-approved plans for infill housing. The book will help reduce the cost of architectural services and building permitting for developers.

The city will also create a Unified Development Ordinance to coordinate land use regulations and implement policies that incentivize housing affordability. Currently, the city has several ordinances that make it difficult to navigate land use and subdivision regulations.

Fort Worth will also create a capital pool to financially support multifamily housing in High Opportunity Index areas. High Opportunity Index areas are spaces where it has been historically difficult to develop affordable housing due to land cost, land-use policies and neighborhood tensions.

The city will also create a formal land bank to encourage affordable housing redevelopment.