The two-year partnership is being called All INside, part of a larger effort called All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. It was announced at a virtual event organized by the White House last week. The goal of All In is to reduce homelessness by 25% by 2025. Locally, Dallas’ Office of Homeless Solutions and Housing Forward will work with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and 19 other federal agencies for two years to help get people off the streets and into housing faster.
The city is one of five receiving this assistance; the others are Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and Chicago.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in a statement Thursday that his administration has taken a kitchen sink approach to addressing homelessness. “We welcome this partnership with the federal government and will leverage it as another tool to encourage healthier and safer communities in Dallas,” Johnson’s statement said.
The hope is that the partnership will speed up local efforts and make changes to the local homeless response system to help reduce the unsheltered homeless population. It should also help find opportunities to relax some regulations that may slow down the local homeless response system.
Susan Rice, President Joe Biden’s domestic policy advisor, said at the virtual event, “Our nation’s homelessness challenge at its roots comes down to an inadequate supply of housing, but it also intersects mental and behavioral health, substance use and so many other key issues.”“People are living on the streets not by choice, but despite trying to remain housed, and for various reasons they could not." – Susan Rice, Biden policy advisor
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Last year, there were more than 580,000 homeless people in the U.S. Four out of every 10 of them were unsheltered.
Every year, Dallas and Collin counties conduct a census of the local homeless population. The 2023 count found 4,244 homeless people across the two counties. a slight decrease from the previous year's count of 4,410. Black people are disproportionately represented among the homeless. They make up 24% of the general population but 60% of the homeless population across the two counties, according to the count.
The census also found a 32% reduction in chronic homelessness and a 14% reduction in unsheltered homelessness.
“People are living on the streets not by choice, but despite trying to remain housed, and for various reasons they could not,” Rice said. “President Biden firmly believes that everyone deserves a safe, decent and affordable place to live, and he is committed to achieving that.”
Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold said at the virtual event that Dallas is looking for more ways to provide homelessness services in an equitable way. “We know that this All In partnership will help amplify those efforts, and look forward to continuing these efforts together, working to solve homelessness and continuing to confront the racial inequities that are prevalent in housing and homelessness,” Arnold said.
