A plan in the works for years to help provide more permanent supportive housing for homeless people has sparked concern in Dallas.
Dallas voters approved $20 million to help build more homeless housing in a 2017 bond referendum, but no new housing has been built.
City officials have been discussing plans all this time.
The Dallas City Council received a briefing on the plan for "Track 4 Bond Sites" in May.
Officials held 20 public meetings for input. The last in the series was scheduled for Wednesday night from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Audelia Road Library.
"Just since hearing about this meeting yesterday, I've received a huge amount of folks," city councilman Adam McGough said.
The Lake Highlands representative said residents were concerned about the suggestion of up to 100 units of new permanent supportive housing for homeless people on a city owned site at 12000 Greenville Avenue just south of Interstate 635.
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The location is in a high crime area where Texas DPS troopers are helping shorthanded Dallas police. Many apartments are already in that area.
"I haven't heard anybody in support of having this kind of housing at that location," McGough said.
Developers have until Aug. 15 to submit proposals that could use their city-owned sites, including two smaller sites on Haskell Avenue in addition to the larger Greenville Avenue site.
"Nothing is set in stone yet," Homeless Solutions Director Monica Hardman said. "Developers can bid on these three specific sites or they can bring their own properties to the table."
With this particular plan, Hardman said the city was seeking new apartments to house homeless people and not a new homeless shelter. The city wants mixed income developments that might house more than just homeless people, but including services on-site that homeless people need to get back on their feet.
"We're looking at higher opportunity areas. We're looking at areas that have access to public transportation, near major employment centers," Hardman said.
McGough said he supported many of those features, but questioned putting all of the new units at the Greenville Avenue site.
"We need more affordable housing. We just need to be smart about how we do it and where we put it," he said. "And you don't put it in a place that already has a high concentration of housing."
Hardman said there would be more public meetings on the developer proposals once they are received.
