The proposed budget for the City of Dallas would authorize more than $3 million in spending on the decommissioning of homeless encampments throughout the city.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, City Manager T.C. Broadnax has proposed a $4.6 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year. However, the budget could change as council members debate spending priorities. The City Council will finalize the FY 23-24 budget on September 20, ahead of the October 1 start of the fiscal year.
Amid a crisis of homelessness and vagrancy, Broadnax proposed allocating $16 million toward the Office of Homeless Solutions (OHS) in both the upcoming fiscal year and FY 24-25.
The proposed budget directs $2,437,000 toward decommissioning homeless encampments throughout Dallas over the next two years. Decommissioning a homeless encampment includes closing an encampment while offering temporary housing and services to the people who were living there, according to the City.
“The message this budget sends is this is a priority for the City of Dallas,” claimed Housing Forward Board Chair Peter Brodsky, The Dallas Morning News reported. “We are going to continue to address the unsheltered homelessness in our community and ensure our city doesn’t allow the problem to become out of control as it has in other cities.”
The budget allocates $937,000 toward decommission in the upcoming fiscal year and $1,500,000 in FY 24-25. Furthermore, the proposed budget recommends spending $1,000,000 on “cleaning” homeless encampments and fencing off public areas where vagrants are likely to camp.
Homeless encampments are decommissioned by private contractors hired by the Office of Homeless Solutions.
However, many local business owners have been dissatisfied with the City’s process of decommissioning encampments, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
During a meeting between the OHS and the Stemmons Corridor Business Association, business owner Ed Zahra said he does not believe the City is doing enough to solve the homelessness crisis in Dallas.
“You clean [the encampments] out. They move back the next day, and nothing’s done for the next week or [month],” he said. “As a business owner, as a property owner … I see progress, but my patience is kind of wearing a little thin that I can’t get our area resolved.”
Broadnax’s proposed budget also includes $400,000 for building security costs at three City-owned buildings acquired by OHS — $200,000 in FY 23-24 and $200,000 in FY 24-25.
The Dallas Express contacted the City for more information about the proposed spending items but received no response by press time.
Despite the considerable City spending on the issues, residents maintain that homelessness and vagrancy are still “major” problems throughout Dallas.
One approach the City has yet to try is the “one-stop-shop” model employed by Haven for Hope in San Antonio, which provides services in conjunction with housing on a single campus.
Haven for Hope has been credited with a 77% reduction in homelessness. The strategy has polled favorably among Dallas voters.