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People experiencing homelessness line up for food in downtown Dallas in July 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Dallas County\u2019s lead homelessness agency<\/a> wants residents to pay about $60 more a year to keep people off the streets, but county leaders aren’t convinced the group\u2019s plan will work.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas County commissioners are weighing whether to ask voters in November to approve a property tax increase of 2.4 cents per $100 of assessed property value\u00a0to fund homelessness services. According to Housing Forward, which coordinates homelessness response in Dallas and Collin counties, the tax would cost the average homeowner about $5 a month and raise roughly $100 million a year. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Sarah Kahn, president and CEO of Housing Forward, told commissioners Monday that the $100 million would beef up programs her group believes are working. These include expanding street response teams to address encampments and people sleeping outside, adding a central intake location and hiring more staff to connect people to shelter or treatment instead of jail or the streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n The proposal comes as Dallas and Dallas County grapple with a growing homelessness crisis that is straining neighborhoods and shelters. In December and January, Dallas<\/a> and Dallas County officials<\/a> approved $20 million total for Housing Forward to house about 1,100 people countywide and prevent encampments, mostly in downtown Dallas. Her group\u2019s data shows 10,800 households need help exiting homelessness annually. \u00a0<\/p>\n The current system can\u2019t afford to help 4,600 households, more than 40 percent of the homeless population, according to data from Housing Forward. Kahn also noted that around 90% of homelessness funding comes from federal sources, with no sustainable local funding to meet rising needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is, we\u2019re facing a moment where we are going to pay for this one way or the other,\u201d Kahn said during the committee meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The other way, she said, is paying nearly $500 million a year in taxpayer costs for emergency response, crisis systems and hospital and jail stays for people without stable shelter. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Commissioners Court has until August to decide whether to put the measure in front of voters this November.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the proposal faced skepticism from commissioners John Wiley Price and Elba Garcia.\u00a0<\/p>\n Price questioned whether the plan would reduce jail overcrowding<\/a> or Parkland Hospital visits. He noted the Dallas County jail, which has a capacity of 7,600, currently holds 2,000 people on suspicion of criminal trespass, many without permanent home addresses. He added that\u2019s along with hundreds of others who should be in state custody<\/a> due to mental health or other issues. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Price said the plan doesn\u2019t fully account for existing efforts or the logistical challenges of managing the area\u2019s homelessness system.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy concern is this doesn\u2019t seem to be well thought out,\u201d Price said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Garcia raised concerns about the rising financial burden on residents, who recently approved a $6.2 billion Dallas ISD bond funded by property tax increases<\/a>. Those hikes would already increase the average homeowner\u2019s property tax bill by about $33 a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n