Dallas homelessness drops despite more unhoused veterans, families, youth
More than 4,200 unhoused people were counted in January in Dallas and Collin counties, a 4% drop from 2022. Housing advocates say policy solutions, community support, robust funding will house more in 2023
By Leah Waters
Advocates focused on solving homelessness are cautiously celebrating data announced Thursday that reveals a drop in the number of unhoused people in Dallas and Collin counties.
Despite progress in housing unsheltered people, since last year there have been double-digit increases of homelessness among youth, veterans and families.
Staff of Housing Forward, the lead agency of the local homeless response system, shared a taste of the data — which was collected during January’s federally mandated point-in-time count — during an address that challenged attendees to rethink what they believe about homelessness.
“I think it’s a good reminder that we’re talking a lot about data today, but behind those numbers are real people,” said Sarah Kahn, Housing Forward’s Chief Program Officer. She spoke through tears after a testimonial video from people who have been rehoused.
Overall homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties dropped by 4% compared to 2022 data. In January, 4,244 people were counted as experiencing homelessness on a single night.
The number of unhoused youth — 194 — increased by 18% from 2022, and the number of unhoused veterans — 365 — jumped by 21%. About 946 individuals in families experienced homelessness, a 15% increase.
“Homelessness decreased in areas where targeted rehousing investments were made, however there were increases in the number of people staying in temporary housing, and emergency beds as many of our providers returned to pre-pandemic levels of service,” said Joli Angel Robinson, President and CEO of Housing Forward. “Increases in the number of people staying in temporary and crisis-based environments drove an overall increase in the count among veterans, individuals in families and youth.”
Point-in-time counts are designed to give a snapshot of trends, not a complete picture of homelessness, Robinson said. A complete report of the point-in-time data will be released May 1.
Trends up and down
The full story of homelessness in North Texas is best told in parts, Robinson said, as homelessness takes different forms depending on the people who experience it.
According to Housing Forward data, volunteers counted 1,184 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, a 14% decrease from 2022, and 381 experiencing chronic homelessness, a 32% drop.
Robinson attributed those declines to the success of collaborative programs like Dallas’ rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing, which provide people with stable housing, rent assistance and case management services.
Housing Forward also shared data about the homeless response system’s effectiveness at rehousing people, which has a goal of making homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring.
About 2,600 people entered into permanent housing since 2022, with 209 returning to homelessness after 12 months, a 92% rate of people staying housed. The national average is 87%, according to Housing Forward data.
People who experience homelessness in Dallas or Collin counties on average spend about 95 days unhoused, Robinson said. The system has also seen an 18% increase in people exiting homelessness into permanent housing instead of into temporary housing, with 5,290 in 2022 and 4,338 in 2021.
Robinson said the data also shows striking racial disparities among people experiencing homelessness. While Black households make up about 24% of the general population in Dallas and Collin counties, they represent 59% of the unhoused population.
About 63% of unhoused people locally are male, 37% are female, and 0.67% reported their gender as non-binary, transgender or questioning.
About half of people experiencing homelessness are between 18 and 34 years old. Dallas County accounted for nearly 88% of unhoused people counted in the annual survey while Collin County accounted for more than 12%.
At Thursday’s event, Robinson also announced an expansion of the $72 million Dallas rapid rehousing program following an infusion of federal grant awards and an increase of annual funding that will allow Housing Forward and its partners to hire more staff to serve 6,000 people by 2025.
The initiative, funded by a mix of public and private dollars, has housed 1,871 people since October 2021.
Focus on past, present, future
Housing Forward ended the address with a panel discussion facilitated by Robinson that highlighted past discrimination, current punitive practices and the dream of ending homelessness.
Matt Roberts with North Texas Behavioral Health Authority, Ikenna Mogbo of Metrocare, and Dr. J.H. Cullum Clark with the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative responded to questions with calls for action.
Mogbo characterized the problem of homelessness as the product of a “musical chairs” response to the scarcity of affordable housing. When the music stops, someone is left without a chair — or a safe, decent, affordable home.
“Fundamentally the reason why people don’t have the housing in our community that they need is because there’s not enough affordable housing,” he said.
Clark called out historical housing discrimination and its persistent grip on the present, one that continues to harm communities of color, he said .
“We’ve had a pervasive national policy failure of epic proportions,” he said. “It is an economic fact that probably at least the bottom third of the income distribution do not earn enough money to actually be able to afford the cheapest new home that can be constructed.”
Roberts challenged the idea that homelessness emerges because of mental health or substance abuse disorders, citing data that shows about 30% of unhoused individuals nationwide report having a mental health disorder.
“There’s a common misperception that there’s a one-to-one relationship between mental health struggles and homelessness,” he said. “And we know that’s absolutely not the case.”
Mogbo also called out punitive practices against unhoused people, like banning panhandling or camping in public. He said criminalizing homelessness and putting unhoused people in jail is not an effective way to house people. Criminal backgrounds then make it harder to get housed.
Robinson asked the panel to dream of the best tools to solve homelessness. Mogbo said that zoning law reforms to encourage more housing density is a start. The expansion of Medicaid and other health resources is another, he said.
Clark offered up a few dreams: changing people’s attitudes and calling out NIMBY sentiments as an uncaring response to the communities calling out for help. He added that Dallas could become a leader of thoughtful land-use plans, reimagining vacant spaces waiting for development.
Clark said he’s seen evidence of solutions, citing the Dallas City Council’s adoption of a reformed housing policy Wednesday.
“We need to actually have the full toolkit of subsidized affordable housing policies in motion,” Clark said. “There’s some of those that we’re doing an OK job with in Dallas and others as well as we haven’t really fully developed and underdeveloped tools in places. But there’s no question that there’s a lot of momentum around trying to get better.”
