Recommendations from the Dallas Mayor’s Commission on Homelessness moved forward at City Hall Tuesday, despite concerns about some of the details.
“What I’ve discovered is, it’s not just an issue of us working with other entities. It’s an issue of us working inside these walls at City Hall. So, that is certainly concerning to me,” said Council Member Tiffinni Young.
The Dallas City Council Housing Committee sent the list of proposals on for review by the full City Council in the future.
Speaking from his wheelchair, Austin Street Shelter resident James Dunn pleaded with city leaders for action on the proposals.
“We need in Dallas to have a heart, realize that some people who never thought they would wind up homeless are going to wind up homeless,” he said.
The Mayor’s Commission spent months holding hearings and studying homeless issues after tent camps that sprang up all around Dallas in 2016 demonstrated the growing problem.
When the city closed big camps, Shelia Crawford, President of the Ideal Neighborhood Association, said homeless people wound up in her South Dallas area, bringing trash and drug paraphernalia with them.
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“They’re coming to our communities, which are putting our lives and our children in danger,” Crawford said.
The commission report first issued months ago showed about 3,900 people were counted homeless in a 2016 census.
It estimated 10,000 people experience homelessness in Dallas at some time during the year.
The Dallas Independent School District reported 3,700 homeless children.
“My challenge to the Council and everybody sitting here is, let’s not remain focused on minor differences in wording,” said Dallas County Criminal Justice Department Director Ron Stretcher. “Let’s stay focused at the work at hand and that’s to solve this crisis. And it is a crisis for us. It’s in the jail, it’s in the hospitals and it’s on the streets.”
The recommendations include an ongoing panel be formed to see that the first group’s plan becomes reality.
“I’m very much in favor of a commission that would report to the Housing Committee. I like the structure of a 15 member board, with each council member appointing someone, the mayor appointing the chair,” said Council Member Scott Griggs.
Other key recommendations are better outreach to locate homeless people and provide services, coordinated community-wide data entry of cases between different agencies, more shelter capacity and permanent supportive housing.
Non-profit agency CitySquare has just opened a 50 cottage campus for permanent supportive housing near Interstate 45 and Interstate 30.
The cottages took longer than expected to complete and cost approximately $140,000 per unit, but the money includes providing expensive services that many homeless people need.
“The homeless population in Dallas has substantial needs. They’re an aging population. We’re dealing with a lot of mental illness, substance abuse issues, a number of barriers that would make it hard for them to go straight to work. They need supportive services to get them on their feet,” said CitySquare Chief Operating Officer John Siburt. “And really as simple as it sounds, the cure for homelessness is a house. And so when folks get housing first, that in and of itself is a stabilizer.”
The Mayor’s Commission suggested about 2,000 additional units of permanent supportive housing, but money to pay for it has not been earmarked.
Some could be existing rental apartments. Dallas landlords refusing to accept government vouchers for homeless housing is another problem identified in the report.
“The city of Houston has made great strides in the fight against homelessness. The state of Utah has virtually eliminated it. But across the board, the success comes when you go with housing first,” Siburt said.
Some money for homeless housing could be included in a 2017 bond referendum. Dallas city council members discuss a possible bond borrowing plan Wednesday.
