We’re roughly eight weeks away from the FIFA games in North Texas and Dallas is working to put its best face forward. That includes an ongoing commitment to homelessness solutions.

Leaders of the Dallas Street to Home initiative said the goal to end homelessness hasn’t let up since the program’s inception in 2024.

With Dallas just weeks away from FIFA’s international spotlight, the work continues.

“FIFA really is a great opportunity to figure out, how do we expand that as we’re preparing for FIFA? Because what we didn’t want to happen in our community is that we would just put up a big temporary shelter with all the resources that we have for three months and then let hundreds of people right back on the street of downtown,” said Sarah Kahn.

The Citizens Homelessness Commission held its regular meeting Thursday, where the lead agency for homelessness response in Dallas and Collin Counties gave a quarterly report. Sarah Kahn, CEO of Housing Forward, emphasized phase two of the Street to Home initiative as a chief focus in 2026 – with a goal of transitioning people from shelter beds to permanent housing.

“When our shelter beds stay full that’s when we have a lot of people forced to sleep outside and that’s what we’re trying to change this year by kind of transforming a shelter from a waiting room to a launchpad,” she said.

Recently, flyers passed out by the Dallas Police Homeless Outreach Team faced scrutiny from grassroots organizations. The flyers listed state parks and lake campgrounds as “safe and legal camping options.”

Dallas Police responded to questions from NBC 5 about the flyers:

“This flyer is a resource information sheet shared by our Homeless Outreach Team to individuals they encounter. The officers on the HOT team provide education on City ordinances and State laws regarding camping, offer to connect individuals with shelter and housing options, medical treatment, and other services to assist those experiencing homelessness.”

Former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller also joined the conversation at the Citizens Homelessness Commission meeting with an overview and goals to expand her private initiative The Ladder Project.

“We are 11 volunteers. We have no overhead. We don’t have an office. We go to the synagogue for meetings. We don’t have salaries. All the money that we have goes to the homeless,” said Miller.

Click here for more information about the mayor and city council-appointed advisory board.