Dallas

Homelessness in Dallas, Public Panel Discussion

NBCUniversal, Inc.

Homelessness in Dallas is a problem Daniel Roby, CEO of Austin Street Center, has made his business.

"It is challenging and increasing,” Roby said. “I would say year over year we have been seeing about a 9% increase and one of the fastest-growing homeless populations in the country. We have seen probably a 725% increase in unsheltered homelessness. So a lot of people out on the streets over the past 10 years and nationally there is about a 3% increase over 2019. It’s a growing challenge. There is a lot of collaboration and a lot of great work that is being done on the ground to provide solutions.”

Roby, along with Carl Falconer, President and CEO, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and Kimberly Williams, CEO, Interfaith Family Services will be panelists for RealityCheckIt: Homelessness in Dallas virtual breakfast panel Thursday. It’s a free event to raise awareness of the growing issues and how the community can step up to help. NBC 5 Today's Laura Harris will moderate the discussion.

The event is presented by The Phillips Foundation and The Kleinert Foundation.

#RealityCheckIt is a social media campaign launched by the Phillips Foundation to connect caring individuals with the community’s immediate needs. Designed to help nonprofit organizations raise support for their causes, we explain the issues, raise awareness, and drive action in DFW.

A problem that’s getting increasingly worse in the pandemic.

"We are still faced with a real onslaught right now with COVID. There has been a 55% increase in the number of homeless encampments identified and reported through the system, just in the first kind of half of the year that we have been collecting that data, so we are really concerned on our end that we are seeing more people falling into homelessness," Roby said.

Registration to the panel discussion is open and free.

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