Sabrina Abney has lived in downtown Dallas for more than two decades and is used to seeing people on the street and in parks. But lately, she said, the homeless numbers seem to be worse.
Abney said she found new ways to walk her dog Harry after she was molested by the people who live in Pacific Plaza. For the first time in 20 years, she wonders if it’s time to move.
“City leaders don’t have to deal with it day in, day out, so it’s a little bit secondary to them,” Abney said. “I would just love to see adequate help for the homeless community that needs it – and possibly distribute it across town so that there will be services everywhere.”
Complaints about homeless camps are on the rise, and residents say the city is not doing enough to help the neighborhoods and the homeless. Many Dallas residents told the Dallas Morning News that they felt helpless or motivated to leave Dallas for an area where the problem appears to be under control.
The city has been given money to clear the camps in the past. Last year the Office of Homeless Solutions received about $ 500,000 and the Department of Water $ 250,000 to clean up the camps. The move is viewed as controversial by some proponents, who have argued that money should be used for long-term solutions instead of sweeps.
Homeless camps are nothing new. But the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the problem. The city of Dallas said during the pandemic that storage bins in parks increased by 30%.
The number of people counted as homeless in Dallas and Collin counties has increased almost every year since 2011. That year 4,570 people were left homeless in the area every night. That’s a 32% increase since 2011.
Two people were killed in shootings in homeless camps in downtown and on the Deep Ellum border in late July and early August. No arrests were made and the killings created additional security concerns for those living in or near camps.
Lisa Harlow, who has lived in the Bent Tree West neighborhood of Far North Dallas for about 13 years, said she noticed an increase in ongoing panhandling and said she felt uncomfortable roaming the neighborhood. But complaints fall on deaf ears, she said.
“To be honest, seeing this I wish I had never lived here,” said Harlow.
From January 1, 2015 to July 26, 2021, the city received around 18,000 complaints about homeless camps, according to The News.
The number of notifications increased significantly each year, with complaints filed in 2020 and 2021 making up about 42% – about 7,500 – of the total.
The city received the most complaints in 2020 – 4,896. This year will follow a similar trend, with 2,639 complaints filed by July 26, compared to 2,724 at the same time last year. In the same period of 2019 there were 1,918.
City Council District 6, which encompasses much of western Dallas, is among the areas with the most complaints.
Councilor Omar Narvaez, who represents the area, said residents are “always concerned about our uninhabited neighbors”. He took note of a new rapid relocation proposal that aims to house over 2,700 people in Dallas County by October 2023 with federal funding and housing vouchers. The city council passed the proposal unanimously in a vote on Wednesday.
Earlier this summer, Dallas County and the City of Dallas announced that they would be working with the Metro Homeless Dallas Alliance, the Dallas Housing Authority Housing Solutions for North Texas, Mesquite, and the Homeless Collaborative to achieve this goal. The effort will cost approximately $ 70 million, with the county and city contributing $ 25 million each.
“It is cruel to force these people out without a housing offer,” said Narvaez. “This new approach will help, and I support trying everything new to help the most marginalized residents of Dallas.”
“A constant turnover”
Vikki Martin, president of Ferguson Road Initiative, a neighborhood association, said the White Rock Hills community has long struggled with homeless camps along streams and Interstate 30.
She said that only a small group of homeless people are a problem because they are confrontational or act unpredictably.
“I just don’t know what to do,” said Martin. “The city is at a loss as to how to solve this problem. Part of it is that we all know that there isn’t enough affordable housing in the city. In addition, you cannot just offer people a home, but have to give them access to services that can help them holistically. “
Many local residents said reducing homelessness was a top priority for their neighborhoods.
“If you don’t see the same people, then there are new people every day,” says Michael Hollemans, who lives in the city center. “It just feels like there’s constant sales.”
City Council District 2 – which includes portions of Oak Lawn, the Love Field area, Deep Ellum, South Dallas, and Old East Dallas – has seen the highest number of homelessness-related complaints in the past few weeks, according to the city.
In District 14, which also had a high number of complaints, Ryan Bloss, an Oak Lawn resident, said mailboxes and garages were broken into as the problem increased. It was common to see people sleeping in driveways and seeing trash emptied on the streets, he said.
“People move into the building and ask themselves, ‘Where did I move in?’” Bloss said.
Several homeless camps were set up along Interstate 635 in Far East Dallas last year, said Marc P. Valerin, past president of the Briarwood Neighborhood Association. Valerin said people had complained for months about faeces and rubbish on the street or near the camps, as well as increased criminal activity.
“You can’t live in such outdoor camps; that’s just not healthy, ”said Valerin. “It’s a public safety and public health issue.”
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, homeless camps grew across Dallas for months and the city said cleanup was too risky. The Dallas shelters also welcomed fewer people due to outbreak concerns.
During that time, complaints from residents of the Far East of Dallas increased, Valerin said.
When a camp closes, people usually move to other camps or start new ones elsewhere. Valerin said the problem had become widespread in the Dallas Far East after officials tried to evict the homeless population from the downtown area.
A divisive issue
Some residents argue that the city should step up police force to prevent homeless camps, while others argue that sweeping the camps is callous.
“We often have the feeling that things are not getting done,” says Ann Sansone, who lives in the Casa View neighborhood. “And we know things won’t get done right away, but it takes so much effort, time and neighbors to get an answer.”
Ebony Davis, who has lived downtown for three years, said she felt empathetic after experiencing homelessness. She posted on Facebook a few months ago about a canal-like smell coming from a downtown corner where a large group lived.
“This is not only uncomfortable, but also harmful to your health,” she wrote. “My heart goes out to the homeless, but this is going to be a big problem.”
One person who commented on her post called it “the familiar smell of downtown”.
Davis said in an interview that the city was moving the problem from place to place rather than confronting it. People without a home need someone to listen to and take care of them, she said.
“If you can see it from their perspective, it will be a priority for our city,” said Davis. “We’re all just a disease, a tragedy, a paycheck away from being homeless.”
Note: This article is part of our State of the City project in which The Dallas Morning News examines some of the most critical issues facing our communities. Find more topics in the coming days as we explore homelessness.
Would you like to continue the conversation? Join us on Tuesday, August 31st at 12 noon for a webinar with reporters and editors involved in this project. Sign up here.
[ad_1]
