The county Commissioners Court this week unanimously approved $10 million for that effort, matching the $10 million pledged by the Dallas City Council last month. But with their support, county officials pressed Housing Forward \u2013 the region\u2019s lead homeless response agency that manages the initiative \u2013 for proof this public investment will produce lasting results. <\/p>\n
Since the initiative launched in July 2024, service providers have cleared 250 tent encampments in the loop<\/a> from the public library and City Hall to the Lorenzo Hotel, Housing Forward CEO Sarah Kahn said. <\/p>\n Breaking News<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Booker Campbell looks at his sketches as he talks to Hannah Sims (not pictured), a trained social worker and project manager at Housing Forward, while staying on Marilla St. in Dallas on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. Campbell is one of more than 100 people who\u2019ve recently found a fresh start through the Street to Home operation to find permanent housing for people living outdoors in downtown\u2019s public spaces.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n The work relied on a targeted ground approach. Behavioral health outreach teams met with homeless individuals and brought them to shelters, mental health treatment or institutional care \u2013 and eventually permanent housing. <\/p>\n \u201cThe result is that we are resolving street homelessness as opposed to moving it from block to block around the city and around the county,\u201d Kahn said.<\/p>\n Unified push<\/p>\n Dozens of groups, from law enforcement to substance abuse treatment providers and civic organizations such as Downtown Dallas Inc., have collaborated over the past year, taking an aggressive approach toward street sleeping.<\/p>\n The city and county\u2019s combined $20 million for phase two will be buttressed by $8 million in private donations, Kahn said. <\/p>\n The effort also will target high-risk encampments along the South Dallas transportation route for the FIFA World Cup, according to county officials, drawing hundreds of thousands of international soccer fans this summer.<\/p>\n The Street to Home Initiative has overlapped with the city of Dallas\u2019 targeted homeless outreach, with city officials announcing last year that street sleeping will not be allowed. <\/p>\n In justifying the need for the county\u2019s investment, county Commissioner Andrew Sommerman noted the burden homeless individuals are placing on the jail, Dallas Area Rapid Transit\u2019s buses and trains, and the Parkland Hospital emergency department.<\/p>\n Last year, 6,004 homeless people brought to the jail accounted for 5,758 repeat bookings, according to data presented by Sommerman. <\/p>\n \u201cOur jail is one of the most overrun homeless shelters that we have in Dallas County, although it is not done voluntarily,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Demands for results<\/p>\n Commissioners Elba Garcia and John Wiley Price questioned how repeat homeless bookings at the jail have persisted after such deep investments in homeless programs, including $2.5 million the county allocated to Housing Forward last year. <\/p>\n \u201cThe math ain\u2019t mathing,\u201d Price said. \u201cI\u2019m just having a real difficult time with this.\u201d<\/p>\n Kahn said the need remains immense but connecting people with permanent housing is key. Of the 21,900 homeless individuals served by the network in the past five years, she said less than 10 percent have returned to the system after their year-long housing assistance expired. <\/p>\n This not only gives vulnerable people stability, she said, but also frees up shelters to accommodate more homeless clients in immediate need.<\/p>\n Garcia and Price pressed for the organizations to closely track data associated with the county\u2019s $10 million investment, which alone is expected to get 450 people off the streets. But for how long? <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s extremely important that we help, but at the same time that we do it in a way that is accountable to Dallas County,\u201d Garcia said. <\/p>\n Street to home<\/p>\n WHAT\u2019S NEXT: The Street to Home Initiative is launching a $28 million second phase to house about 1,100 people countywide and prevent encampments from returning downtown.<\/p>\n WHO\u2019S PAYING: The city and county each committed $10 million, with another $8 million coming from private donations. <\/p>\n TRACKING RESULTS: Dallas County commissioners approved the funding unanimously but demanded evidence the investment will pay off.<\/p>\n WHERE IT STANDS: Since 2024, outreach teams have cleared 250 downtown encampments and shifted focus to permanent housing to try to reduce strain on the county jail and hospitals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a year ago, a coalition of organizations began clearing homeless encampments in downtown Dallas and connecting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,581,104,103,696,223],"class_list":{"0":"post-132338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-county","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-news","12":"tag-homelessness","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Booker](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/46LZAQ2XMBG4LGJO2NGD6SURBA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n