The number of people experiencing homelessness in Fort Worth has more than doubled in the past three years, according to a report from the city.
In response, the city is launching a new pilot program aimed at helping people in need through housing and mental health services.
On Tuesday night, the Fort Worth City Council approved a plan to spend $1,096,847 on a five-month program to reduce homelessness.
The partnership with the nonprofit My Health My Resources of Tarrant County will target areas of the city where the number of homeless people has visibly risen.
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“That number has increased significantly during the past two or three years,” said Fernando Costa, Assistant City Manager with the city of Fort Worth.
A recent city report showed that from 2021 to 2023, the number of homeless people in Fort Worth rose from just over 1,000 to nearly 2,500.
“It actually declined during the height of the pandemic,” Costa said. “But as the federal eviction moratorium expired and as funds for emergency rental assistance began to decline, we began to see a significant increase in homelessness.”
“We’ve actually identified a total of seven target areas that are experiencing a high degree of visible homelessness,” Costa continued.
Among those areas is the East Lancaster corridor, where businesses have shared concerns with NBC 5 about repeated vandalism by some homeless people in recent months.
Another is the Northside and Stockyards, where Feraas Al-Saba said he has consistently seen people on the street near his business.
“I definitely notice it around,” said Al-Saba.
The city’s new pilot plan would use existing resources like the HOPE Team to identify 80 people in the high-impact zones who have been homeless for at least two years or were suffering from severe mental illness.
40 of those people will be given permanent housing and mental health care, while the other 40 will strictly receive counseling.
“Our goal is for 70% or more of these folks whom we assist to be able to stay in new housing indefinitely into the future, getting them permanently out of the state of homelessness,” Costa said.
If the pilot showed promise, city leaders hoped to receive approval to spend $2.2 million dollars to extend the plan by another 12 months.
Some business owners hoped that treating this issue as a mental health problem would hopefully lead to solutions.
“Homelessness in general, tackling it whether it be here or around the city, I’m all for it,” Al-Saba said. “Anything we can do to help.”
City leaders told NBC 5 that if the program was eventually extended, the city could also expand it into other parts of Fort Worth as well.
