Dallas Housing Authority

How City Officials Keep Dallas Segregated, and the Two Developers Suing to Stop Them

Yesterday I wrote about Curtis Lockey and Craig MacKenzie, who were on my mind Tuesday night as I watched the final electoral votes for Obama click into place. Lockey and MacKenzie are real estate developers suing Dallas in federal court over what they claim is massive misuse of federal de-segregati ... More >>

"It's Time to Celebrate Easter Early," Says Mayor Mike Rawlings About Resurrection of South Dallas's Bonton Neighborhood

For years, the city has wanted to do something, anything about the 60-year-old public housing project on Bexar Street known as Turner Courts, once described in a council briefing as "severely distressed," a victim of "elevated rates of vandalism and criminal activity" and in desperate need of demoli ... More >>

Homes for the Homeless: MDHA's Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Dallas By 2015

Photo by Stephen Masker​One of the more intriguing council briefings tomorrow will be given by an old friend of Mayor Mike Rawlings: Mike Faenza, president and CEO of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. The title of his PowerPoint isn't very sexy -- "Permanent Supportive Housing Plan" -- but conta ... More >>

Forget All About That Watersports Complex. DHA Convinced It to Move to Allen.

​Saw a story on Channel 5 last night, which follows below, about how Chad Lacerte's building a wakeboard park up in Allen -- you know, the one that was supposed to open on Fish Trap Lake last summer, before Dallas Housing Authority president Mary Ann Russ drowned it last July. Not so long ago, Lac ... More >>

It's a diary of a mad year as Buzz recalls a P.O.'d 2010.

Dallas Watersports Complex Hasn't Given Up on Skiing Fish Trap Lake Just Yet

For those wondering where the Dallas Watersports Complex is supposed to go, a map​Chad Lacerte, who'd hoped to have that Dallas Watersports Complex up and running on Fish Trap Lake last summer, hasn't given up hope yet -- not even after the Dallas Housing Authority pulled the cable-ski out from un ... More >>

After a Tough Year Finding Homes for the Homeless, Faenza Says MDHA's Closing Strong

Patrick MichelsMDHA's Mike Faenza​As the Dallas City Council wraps up its last meeting of the year, they'll consider adjusting the city's Permanent Supportive Housing Program -- to keep the council notified when new proposals come in and to "encourage developers and applicants to brief key neighbo ... More >>

An Update on the Dallas Watersports Complex, Which, Turns Out, May Be Heading to Denton

​You remember Chad Lacerte, right? He's the man behind the Dallas Watersports Complex, which had the full support of the Dallas City Council was supposed to open on Fish Trap Lake till the Dallas Housing Authority sunk it, claiming it wasn't in the best interests of the residents of West Dallas. W ... More >>

Liveblogging the Latest in the Never-Ending Story of Permanent Supportive Housing

Patrick MichelsMDHA board chairman John Castle​Nobody at City Hall can seem to hear enough about permanent supportive housing these days, and since the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance's Mike Faenza just can't talk it up enough, we're back at City Hall for another update on how the city's PSH progra ... More >>

Stirred up by political opportunism, a progressive Oak Cliff neighborhood tries to keep out the homeless.

Cast Away

Is Cliff Manor Just Round 1 in a Long Fight Coming?

It's Response vs. Response as Cliff Manor Task Force and DHA, MDHA Agree to Disagree

Mike Faenza, Mayor Tom Leppert and Mike Rawlings at an MDHA event in 2008​Wednesday night, the nine members of Dave Neumann's hand-picked Cliff Manor Task Force abruptly ended a meeting with Dallas Housing Authority officials at DHA HQ: They walked in, listened to a few remarks from the council me ... More >>

Cliff Manor Task Force Demands "Good Faith Negotiations, Cooperation" In Letter to DHA

Daniel Rodrigue​In the end, it didn't matter whether the meeting was open or closed to the public -- because, in the end, there was no meeting at all. Yesterday we noted that council member Dave Neumann's hand-picked Cliff Manor task force was scheduled to meet with Dallas Housing Authority higher ... More >>

DHA's Decision to Move On-Site Services Out of Cliff Manor Sparks Fresh Concerns

​Last week, the Dallas Housing Authority presented 17 people, once homeless, with a new place to stay in Cliff Manor despite earlier assurances that it would hold off till a task force figured out how to ease their transition into the neighborhood. The mayor has said he hopes to use the ruckus ove ... More >>

Mayor Tom Leppert Talks K2 Ban, Dallas Watersports Complex and Cliff Manor

Daniel RodrigueMayor Tom Leppert addressing the unhappy audience at Methodist Medical Center's Hitt Auditorium in June​Initially, this was to be a quick chitchat with the mayor about the proposed ban of K2 and other dope substitutes, which, as Andrea noted earlier today, is on its way to a sure sl ... More >>

Where's the Subsidized Housing in Dallas Located? Let's Go to the PowerPoint.

​Forthcoming, my very early-morning chat with Mayor Tom Leppert, during which we touched on, among other things, his call for a citywide fake-weed ban, the now-sidelined Dallas Watersports Complex and the fallout from Monday night's surprise announcement concerning Cliff Manor. But during the inte ... More >>

Homeless Agencies Flip Off Oak Cliff.

Oak Cliff Chamber Considers Its Own Suit Over DHA's Surprise Cliff Manor Move-In

​Update: Chris Heinbaugh, Mayor Tom Leppert's chief of staff, responds, briefly, to some questions I had for him this morning. They follow after the jump.This morning a Friend of Unfair Park directed our attention to None Zip Zero, a Web site created by opponents of Dallas Housing Authority's effo ... More >>

Federal Lawsuit Threat Scares DHA Into Moving 17 From The Bridge to Cliff Manor Even Before Task Force Gets Down to Discussions

Cliff Manor on Fort Worth Avenue, which will begin taking Bridge residents next week​When last we left the furor over Cliff Manor, where the Dallas Housing Authority and Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance plan to turn 100 units into permanent supportive housing for the "chronically" homeless, Mayor To ... More >>

Watersports Complex Says Fish Trap Lake's Safe. DHA Says It Isn't. But What Says the City?

From an Economic Development Committee agenda item in April 2010​For the last several days I've been trying to find out the answer to one simple question: Is the water in Fish Trap Lake -- site of the Dallas Watersports Complex since put on indefinite hold by the Dallas Housing Authority -- safe f ... More >>

Chad Lacerte, the Man Behind Watersports Complex, Isn't Going to Sue the DHA. Yet.

​Last week I noted that a fairly significant wakeboard event -- scheduled to be held at the long-in-the-works Dallas Watersports Complex on Fish Trap Lake -- had to find a new home, after the Dallas Housing Authority pulled a Sybil and told Chad Lacerte thanks but no thanks after giving him the ok ... More >>

Mayor Leppert Tells Neumann to Create "Advisory Board" to Calm Furor Over Cliff Manor Supportive Housing Proposal

Photos by Daniel RodrigueMayor Tom Leppert addresses the massive crowd at last night's Cliff Manor town hall.​Based on the comments, shouts and full-on screams erupting from the standing-room-only crowd gathered in Methodist Medical Center's Hitt Auditorium last night, it's a wonder that the town ... More >>

Liveblogging the Council Briefing During Which They're Discussing Hiking Your Water Bill

If you've never met the director of Dallas Water Utilities, here she is: Jody Puckett​Walked into today's city council briefing a couple minutes late to catch Tennell Atkins talking about how Dallas needs "classy," and then they gave a long and lengthily introduced award to Wal-Mart wherein everyb ... More >>

HUD Delivers $22 Million to Dallas Housing Authority For Beleagured Turner Courts

​Turner Courts, Dallas Housing Authority's 58-year-old public housing project on Bexar Street, has long been on the city's to-do list. Just a few months ago, the city council's Housing Committee took yet another long, hard look at Turner Courts in the hopes of using 2006 Proposition 8 Bond money j ... More >>

Brent Brown, Head of City Hall's New CityDesign Studio, On Redesigning Dallas

Brandon ThibodeauxBrent Brown, Mary Suhm's choice to head up the Dallas CityDesign Studio​Even after having mentioned the Dallas CityDesign Studio -- which the Trinity Trust is paying for, thanks to Rusty and Deedie Rose's $5 million donation -- a few times, we still didn't know what the what it's ... More >>

Oh, So That's Why Jerry Killingsworth Looked Like He Was Hiding Something While Testifying in the City Hall Corruption Case

When the DHA originally decided not to renew Ann Lott's contract as president and CEO of the DHA in October 2006, Dallas housing director Jerry Killingsworth alleges in a lawsuit against the DHA that he had an agreement to replace her, but "political reasons" prevented him from doing so.Jerry Killin ... More >>

Darren Reagan Gets Some Prison Vacay Before City Hall Corruption Trial

Ann Lott Out as DHA CEO

You Hang in There, Don Hill. Darren Reagan's Just Killin' Time, That's All.

Mayor Names New DHA Board Chair. Fascinating.

A Lott of Work to Do at DHA

Guy Brignon's Letter of Resignation

Guy Brignon Wanted Ann Lott out at DHA. Instead, He Leaves.

The DHA Mess? It's Getting Messier.

The Why Guy, As In: Why Didn't Guy Brignon Show to the DHA Board Meeting Last Night?

Ann Lott: Out, Then In...Now Out Again?

From Fired to Really Hired: The Mayor Explains the DHA Mess

A Culbreath of Fresh Air, Vanished

Re: DHA Has a Lott of Nerve

DHA Has a Lott of Nerve

Going Deep

Pokes' legend Billy Joe DuPree brings staying power to a blighted neighborhood

Change Is Gonna Come

With some help from his friends, Don Williams intends to save South Dallas one block at a time

Actionable Jackson

Screwed, Screwed, Screwed. Or Not.

Lost Houses

By my count, somebody may be shorting Judge Buchmeyer 110 low-income houses in West Dallas

Houses Divided

A fight over public housing pits working-class East Dallas homeowners against their poorer neighbors in a battle tainted by claims of racism

Letters

Eyes wide shut; Vigilante justice; Long live the queen; And more

Welcome to the neighborhood

North Dallas residents find that having a housing project for a neighbor isn't so bad

Letters

Fee fight

For lawyers, beating the city is only the beginning