Dallas Shows Why Building Housing Has Become So Hard

The post Dallas Shows Why Building Housing Has Become So Hard appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. A new home being built just outside Dallas, Texas. Builders in the city have faced numerous problems … More with the permitting agency. Getty Images The city of Dallas purchased a building to act as a “one-stop shop” for its permitting agency. More than $29 million was spent on the purchase and upgrades. But just weeks after city staff moved in, they moved right back out because their new offices failed the permitting process. After spending another year trying to get the building in compliance, the city gave up in April and announced that it would sell the property. Instead of opening up a physical single location to apply for permits, the city concentrated its efforts on a new online platform it rolled out in May. All of this comes after years of embarrassing failures that have made it impossible for some builders to rely on the city’s approval of plans to actually build a home that follows all of the city’s rules. Builders’ Permits Revoked Danny Le knows those failures firsthand. He broke ground on a duplex in the city’s Elm Thicket neighborhood after the city approved his plans in 2023. Danny isn’t a big builder. He planned to live in one of the units and rent the other one out. But the city issued a stop work order for his project and 18 others last summer when permitting staff discovered that it had accidentally approved projects that were not compliant with a recent change in the code. In 2022, as it turned out, the city had downzoned Elm Thicket, making it harder to add needed housing like duplexes. But nobody told Danny—probably because officials in the Dallas Planning Department didn’t even know themselves. For months, Danny’s duplex sat open to the elements as he struggled to get the…

Jul 15, 2025 - 21:00
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Dallas Shows Why Building Housing Has Become So Hard

The post Dallas Shows Why Building Housing Has Become So Hard appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

A new home being built just outside Dallas, Texas. Builders in the city have faced numerous problems … More with the permitting agency. Getty Images The city of Dallas purchased a building to act as a “one-stop shop” for its permitting agency. More than $29 million was spent on the purchase and upgrades. But just weeks after city staff moved in, they moved right back out because their new offices failed the permitting process. After spending another year trying to get the building in compliance, the city gave up in April and announced that it would sell the property. Instead of opening up a physical single location to apply for permits, the city concentrated its efforts on a new online platform it rolled out in May. All of this comes after years of embarrassing failures that have made it impossible for some builders to rely on the city’s approval of plans to actually build a home that follows all of the city’s rules. Builders’ Permits Revoked Danny Le knows those failures firsthand. He broke ground on a duplex in the city’s Elm Thicket neighborhood after the city approved his plans in 2023. Danny isn’t a big builder. He planned to live in one of the units and rent the other one out. But the city issued a stop work order for his project and 18 others last summer when permitting staff discovered that it had accidentally approved projects that were not compliant with a recent change in the code. In 2022, as it turned out, the city had downzoned Elm Thicket, making it harder to add needed housing like duplexes. But nobody told Danny—probably because officials in the Dallas Planning Department didn’t even know themselves. For months, Danny’s duplex sat open to the elements as he struggled to get the…

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