Dallas City Council drops home insurance requirement for repair program
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We do this work because we believe it can make a difference in our neighbors’ lives.
The first thing our Report for America corps member Jeffrey Ruiz did after he watched the Dallas City Council vote to drop a significant barrier to its home repair program in West Dallas was call Patsy Ruth Jackson.
Ms. Patsy has lived in West Dallas her entire life. She grew up in the neighborhood and raised her children here. She leads her Victory Gardens neighborhood association.
And she hasn’t been able to live in her home in two and half years because she can’t afford the repairs and she doesn’t qualify for the city programs that assist homeowners like her.
So when the council voted to take away the home insurance requirement — which Ms. Patsy couldn’t afford on her limited income — the news left her choking back tears as she expressed her joy to Jeffrey.
“Lord, you gonna make a way. I thank God because someone listened. Thank you for letting me and Rayella’s story to be heard.”
(We all had to choke back tears that day.)
We started reporting on this repair program when it launched in December 2020, but we kept hearing from neighbors that it wasn’t “working.” The $2 million in unused bond funds dedicated to stabilizing older West Dallas homes should have been easy to spend.
Our open records request over the summer revealed that roughly a third of homeowners who had applied had been denied because they lacked home insurance. Then we heard Ms. Patsy share her frustration of not being able to receive funds during a West Dallas 1 meeting with neighborhood leaders. She and Rayella Boyd invited Jeffrey to look all around their homes so he could see how time had taken its toll.
City staff proposed changing the requirements soon after these women’s stories were published. And we weren’t the only ones to spread the news of the City’s solution to a problem — Bethany Erickson at D Magazine had watched the council meeting as well as a committee meeting the day prior, where the change was discussed. She reached out to suggest we combine efforts on the follow-up since both Dallas Free Press and D Magazine are part of the Dallas Media Collaborative, which focuses on solutions to affordable housing problems in our city.
Dallas Free Press’ mission is to amplify voices in disinvested neighborhoods and explore solutions to our city’s systemic inequities. We’re so appreciative to Ms. Patsy and Ms. Rayella for trusting us with their stories, and we’re grateful to have a media partner like D so that their stories can be shared with an even wider audience.
Thank you for your support of our mission. Can you help us do even more good work in 2023?
Keri Mitchell, Dallas Free Press founder + executive director
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Keri Mitchell has spent 20+ years as a community journalist, including 15 years dedicated to community and civic journalism at Dallas’ Advocate magazines. She launched Dallas Free Press in early 2020 with the belief that all neighborhoods deserve reporting and storytelling that values their community and holds leaders accountable.
Mitchell says she is energized by “knowing our work is making an impact — listening to people, telling their stories with strong narratives paired with compelling data that leads to change. I also love spending time in our neighborhoods and with our neighbors, learning from them and working to determine how journalism can be part of the solution to their challenges.”
Mitchell is proud to be the winner of multiple awards during her journalism career including: Finalist in Magazine Feature Reporting (2018) and Finalist in Magazine Investigative Reporting (2017) from Hugh Aynesworth Excellence in Journalism, Best Feature Story (2011) from Texas Community Newspaper Association and Best Magazine Feature (2011) from Dallas Bar Association Philbin Awards.
Areas of Expertise:
local government, education, civic issues, investigative and enterprise reporting
Location Expertise:
Dallas, Texas
Official Title:
Founder + executive director
Email Address:
keri@dallasfreepress.com
