Dallas elected officials on Wednesday approved a $72 million regional effort to help more than 2,700 homeless people move into apartments by 2023. The rapid rehousing program, which starts in October, is believed to be the largest investment in North Texas’ homeless population.
The Dallas City Council unanimously backed three agreements: One supports funding for the program; another allows the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance to lead the plan; and the third designates the North Texas housing authority, DHA, as the administrator for rental subsidies that will go toward the homeless.
Dallas County commissioners will vote on the plan Sept. 7.
The program, called the Dallas R.E.A.L. Time Rapid Rehousing Initiative, calls for providing 2,000 people with a year of rental subsidies. More than 750 emergency housing vouchers will be given to families, domestic violence victims and people who have long-term physical or mental health issues who may not qualify for the rapid rehousing model.
City officials say the initiative is meant to aid people currently in transitional shelters as well as some staying in homeless encampments. Those in Dallas and Collin counties are eligible for the program, but only through a service provider. Furniture will be provided to people in the program, and about 100 caseworkers will be hired to help them transition and stay sheltered.
Several dozen people experiencing homelessness, as well as others, spoke in favor of the plan Wednesday. Many mentioned that despite the support, they felt more needed to be done to increase affordable housing in the city and to boost other resources to help people obtain and maintain shelter.
Jimmy Freeman said he has been living in a transitional shelter at The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center in downtown Dallas since April. He’s been homeless off and on for the past five years and has stayed in encampments when he had nowhere else to go. He hopes he’ll be accepted into the rapid rehousing program.
“This will bring me peace of mind and stability,” Freeman said. Getting into an apartment would free his spot at The Bridge to help someone else, he said.
Council member Cara Mendelsohn said before the vote that she felt the plan was too shortsighted. She suggested last week that the city’s $25 million stake should be split to pay for rapid rehousing, build more affordable housing and go toward new homeless shelter facilities in all 14 City Council districts.
Mendelsohn said she’s in favor of the rapid rehousing concept but described the regional initiative as “ill-conceived.”
She said that a June news conference announcing the project before the entire council and other stakeholders were briefed about the plan was “corrupted and maneuvered” to force public officials to agree to it.
“We’ll have nothing to show for this plan in three years, in five years or 10 years, because we’ll have spent it all on rent instead of spending it and investing it in structures that could last decades,” said Mendelsohn, a former Collin County homeless shelter director.
A yearly count of the homeless population in Dallas and Collin counties found 4,570 this year. But local service providers say the actual number of people experiencing homelessness in the Dallas area is far greater. Data from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department shows more than 9,000 people received homeless or homeless-related services in Dallas and Collin counties in 2020.
City officials estimate that there are more than 400 homeless encampments around Dallas, and that the city spends about $1 million a year forcing people to move out of them.
Dallas and Dallas County are contributing about $25 million each in federal stimulus cash into the rapid rehousing program. At least $10 million will be from private money. An additional $12.4 million in housing vouchers is being distributed by the county, DHA, Mesquite, Plano and other cities.
City officials have estimated that 85% of the subsidy and voucher recipients will be able to remain in a home after their aid runs out.
MDHA has said it’s working with the Greater Dallas Apartment Association to provide incentives to landlords, like paying deposit fees to increase housing availability. The nonprofit estimates up to 1,400 apartments are needed hit the housing goal.
Several supporters of the plan noted Wednesday that more than half of the homeless population counted in Dallas and Collin counties are Black residents and the initiative could increase housing equity.
Council member Casey Thomas said the initiative had his full support and that a unanimous council vote sent “a clear message to the residents of the city of Dallas that homelessness is not acceptable in our city and the key to ending homelessness is a home.”
Andrew Lomax, a supervisor at The Bridge, said the lack of affordable housing has led to a shortage of overnight shelter space across the city. COVID-19 has also contributed to the problem because service providers have had to allow fewer people in to maintain social distancing.
Before the pandemic, he said, the shelter averaged around 900 people a day. Now, the number is around 400.
“This does not mean all these guests suddenly were housed or they disappeared,” Lomax said. They’re now sleeping in campsites across the area, he said.
