DAI Leaders Secure Strongest Tenant Protections in Texas
With three asthmatic children in the family, Patricia Vega (in photo above) was constantly on the lookout for mold. "Every time we move, we think it gets better, but it does not." Realizing that the Dallas housing code enforcement offered no protections, she, with a group of women from San Juan Diego Catholic Church, enlisted the support of Dallas Area Interfaith (DAI) to change the law.
In a little over a year of public action, DAI church leaders confronted landlords, secured the support of allies, negotiated with adversaries, and ultimately changed the housing code of Dallas in a fundamental way. Says Heather Way, a professor at University of Texas School of Law who specializes in affordable housing law, "These reforms are much needed and should have a big impact on protecting the health and safety of Dallas's most vulnerable." FOX News calls the code the "toughest landlord rules in the state." Said former code enforcement prosecutor, Councilmember Adam McGough, "this is unprecedented."
Read moreDAI is Winning on the Rewrite of Dallas' Housing Code
With City Council signalling support for significant reforms in the Dallas rental housing code, Dallas Morning News gave kudos to Dallas Area Interfaith for keeping "these issues on the council's radar and set the stage for many of the most important tweaks in the code." For the first time, the Dallas code would require inspections of the insides of single-family rentals and more frequent inspections of multi-family housing complexes.
Towards that end, the city manager's proposed budget calls for hiring 15 additional code enforcement officers to handle the exapnded responsibilities.
Read moreDAI Clergy Say, "We Have to Humanize Each Other"
In the midst of pushing for expanded community policing and pay increases for officers, Dallas Area Interfaith wants to get all sides listening to each other.
"We have to humanize each other," said Rev. Jon Morrison of Cedar Crest Church of Christ.
Read moreDAI Calls on Police, Community to Build Trust for Better Policing
At a community meeting organized by Dallas Area Interfaith, there were no easy platitudes in reference to the Thursday night shooting of police officers and protesters that left five officers dead. "There is a repentance that has to happen in this nation," preached Pastor Carl Sherman to the crowd gathered at Southern Hill Church of Christ. More than a dozen officers, from six law enforcement agencies across the Metroplex, sat in the pews alongside civilians to hear their public service praised and critiqued.
DAI Compels Housing Committee to Adopt Tougher Regulations
Bachman Lake residents lined up at the podium with photos depicting bedbugs, mold, leaky windows and malfunctioning air conditioning -- all of which came from a neighborhood inspection of apartments involving 60 resident leaders -- organized by Dallas Area Interfaith. On Monday, resident leaders held a press conference urging the city's Housing Committee to adopt their recommendations in a bid to toughen up Dallas' housing code. One leader, Patricia Vega, has two children with asthma living in an apartment with mold in the bedroom and a broken window that leaks when it rains. Said Dr. Barry Lachman, President of the Asthma Coalition of Texas and leader with Temple Shalom, "no family should ever have to live under the conditions we saw in Bachman Lake."
The housing committee agreed, and city council will vote on the proposal next month.
Read moreDAI Takes on Apartment Landlords in Battle vs. Mold & Crime
"It all started with a group of women," said Dallas Area Interfaith (DAI) organizer Walker Moore, that "wanted to know what their rights were." With the guidance of DAI, the ladies went on to organize several meetings -- at local churches and in apartments -- to formulate a strategy to address mold, dilapidation and crime.
In November, extra chairs had to be hauled out to accommodate 160 people who gathered at San Juan Diego Catholic Church at a meeting in which they brought specific issues with apartment conditions straight to the police chief and City of Dallas elected officials. They and the audience listened with approval as Mayor Pro Tem Monica Alonzo and Roberto Garcia, a Dallas police senior corporal, vowed to help the residents.
Read moreHuffPost Cites DAI: Working Together Builds Interfaith Relations
To those concerned about anti-Muslim sentiment in the country, Huffington Post writer Carol Kuruvilla recommends, "Get involved with your local interfaith network." She cites Dallas Area Interfaith organizer Josephine Lopez-Paul:
Dallas Area Clergy Respond to Local Police Shooting
Clergy Call for DPD, Community to Communicate, FOX 4 News