Why Is It So Hard For Dallas to Address Affordable Housing? Amid scandals, setbacks, and few incentives for developers, the city admits it needs to make changes. Now it's time to see whether they finally happen. By Tyler Hicks Published in FrontBurner February 1, 2021 4:55 pm When he was in college, Michael Geblein wrote “Rent” on a piece of tape and stuck it on a jar where he put his loose change. It was a joke until it wasn’t. Early last year, he had to dip into it. Geblein, 26, earns a salary of $48,000 at his marketing gig in Dallas. Rent for his Uptown apartment is more than $1,800, over half his monthly income after taxes. Before the pandemic, he drove Uber to make extra cash, but he stopped in March. By May, he cashed in his change to pay rent. Shortly after, he created an account with DoorDash.