What are Dallas’ neighboring cities doing to address homelessness?
Sarah Kahn, president and CEO of Housing Forward, the lead agency for the local homeless response system, said at the meeting that the All Neighbors Coalition, a group of organizations working to tackle local homelessness, includes neighboring cities that are part of the “coordinated and unified strategy for reducing homelessness.” Kahn said these cities are involved in activities such as providing outreach staff and resources for rehousing.
Cities in the continuum of care (a fancy term for the homeless response system) include Addison, Balch Springs, Coppell, Frisco, Garland, Irving, McKinney, Mesquite, Plano, Richardson and University Park.
Mendelsohn, vice chair of the committee, interjected, asking Kahn, “Specifically, I’m looking for who’s opening a new shelter, who’s opening a new facility besides anyone within the city of Dallas boundaries?”
Kahn didn’t have a whole lot of specifics at the time.
“We have multiple partners who are providing rapid rehousing and targeted outreach to people who are experiencing homelessness,” Kahn said. “I cannot tell you who is opening up an actual shelter facility, but we are partnering with a number of cities who are working on homeless solutions, meaning like helping to move people back into permanent housing and to provide wraparound support.”
“Specifically, I’m looking for who’s opening a new shelter, who’s opening a new facility besides anyone within the city of Dallas boundaries?” – Dallas City Council member Cara Mendelsohn
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That wasn't enough for Mendelsohn. “Well, Chair [City Council member Jesse Moreno], I have to tell you that it’s about time we have some sort of resolution that says we are one of many cities within the [continuum of care] and it’s time for the other cities to start stepping up,” Mendelsohn said. “We can’t be the sole support for this, and we have to ask our other cities to step up.”
After a few more questions from Mendelsohn, Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert chimed in. She said on March 7, for the first time ever, city managers from Dallas and Collin counties met to discuss what they could do to address homelessness. “I think it was a good opportunity for us to share, as you stated, what Dallas is doing, and what we need from them to actually come to the table and be able to support,” Tolbert said. “I think it was an eye opener for us to really know what some of their needs are and what they currently believe that they're doing and how that's not enough.”
She said these conversations are continuing to take place. Additionally, Tolbert said she hopes a meeting will be set up with the mayors of all of these cities to discuss what more they can do to address regional homelessness. “I think as we continue to move forward and have these conversations, we clearly understand that our system is one that has supported the entire [continuum of care] and that we definitely need to have those additional resources and commitments from those cities.”
We reached out to all of the cities Kahn listed as members of the coalition. Plano was the only one that responded to our questions about what it’s doing to address homelessness in time for publication.
Shanette Eaden, community services manager for the neighborhood services department in Plano, oversees efforts to help the homeless in the city. Eaden told the Observer the city of Plano addresses homelessness in a number of ways. It focuses on homelessness prevention, and offers rapid rehousing, as well as tenant-based rental assistance programs to unsheltered residents.
“The city recognizes that it is cheaper to assist a household in remaining housed than for the household to become homeless, and therefore offers homelessness prevention programs to residents through administrative help of our nonprofit partners,” Eaden said by email.
Eaden said in the first quarter of the city’s fiscal year, Plano’s homelessness prevention programs spent about $270,000 to prevent 280 individuals from being evicted by paying their rent and/or utility bills, along with providing case management services. For unsheltered residents, the city spent about $60,765 to place 30 people into housing while providing case management services through its rapid rehousing and tenant-based rental assistance programs.
The city of Plano is undergoing a study that seeks to evaluate data on a regional level to determine the housing tools and policies that will benefit residents.
“Housing is a regional issue that all of the cities within the DFW metroplex and across the country are trying to address,” Eaden said. “We will continue in these collaborations, as the transient nature [of] homelessness lends itself to collaboration with cities to the north and south of us.”
