Dallas’ new strategy to shutter homeless encampments

It is rewarding to see that efforts to reduce homelessness continue to yield results. Based on the latest point-in-time count, homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties declined for the third consecutive year.

This trend indicates that homelessness strategies are working for some individuals who have fallen on hard times. However, the strategies aren’t working for a significant number of visibly homeless individuals on streets and encampments within the city of Dallas, including those on City Hall’s doorstep. Homelessness intervention efforts now must make shuttering encampments and safely housing these homeless individuals a pressing priority. Too many chronically homeless people have been on the streets for years and must have humane but clear intervention.

Toward that end, Housing Forward, which coordinates homelessness strategies in Dallas and Collin counties, last week announced a goal to cut street homelessness by 50% by 2026 from 2021 levels when homelessness here reached an all-time high.

The $30 million, public-private plan would emphasize closing encampments in public spaces with a targeted “Street to Home” strategy to deploy behavioral health care and rehousing assistance onsite to speed up the process. Much of that focus will be on the central business district — including the area outside City Hall — where homeless advocates estimate that 300 to 400 people regularly gather.

This is a much-needed next step to address a multilayered problem that negatively affects homeless individuals and Dallas neighborhoods. The most recent point-in-time count conducted in Dallas and Collin counties in January revealed 3,718 homeless individuals, a 12% drop from 2023. And since 2021, when the homeless count reached its peak of 4,570, overall homelessness has declined 19% and unsheltered homelessness 24%. The homeless count in the city of Dallas stood at 2,929, an 8% decline from last year and a 20% decrease since 2022.

However, visible street homelessness, often synonymous with chronic homelessness, fell just 6.5% from last year’s count, suggesting that a new strategy is needed to more effectively empty, close, clean and secure homeless encampments so that these enclaves don’t reconstitute.

The reality is that public encampments pose unacceptable public health and safety problems. Unfortunately, transition of the most visible homeless individuals from life on the streets to rehabilitation services, housing and a better life isn’t happening fast enough.

Housing Forward’s new approach wisely recognizes the need for a more urgent response to mitigate public health, safety and quality of life concerns of entrenched encampments without compromising successful strategies. Housing Forward says the region has successfully housed over 10,000 previously homeless individuals — many of them families, homeless youth and veterans — since 2021.

Dallas is moving in the right direction, thanks in part to a more coordinated homeless response system than existed a decade ago. But in the interest of recapturing quality of life, Dallas must redouble its efforts to reduce the erosive impact of chronic homelessness and visible public encampments.

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com