New developments in the up-and-coming area on the south side of Love Field have been plagued by persistent issues with the homeless and vagrant population.
The neighborhood along West Mockingbird Avenue outside Love Field’s primary entrance has experienced a recent boom in construction. Businesses have been moving there rapidly to bring their services to the influx of people.
With that growth have come complaints that the city is not doing enough to help the homeless and vagrants in the area, leading developers to attempt to address the issue themselves.
Nick Karr, the CEO of Citra Care, told The Dallas Express that Citra Care chose to hire private security for night-time shifts to guard its new urgent care center opening in the area.
“There are homeless guys living back there, setting up shop” close to the building, Karr explained. When he asked the vagrants to move off the property, the men refused and threatened Karr, prompting him to call the police.
“It’s a tax on the citizens,” Karr suggested, referring to the added cost of security. “They feel emboldened. They feel comfortable.”
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson recently announced that fixing the “scourge of homelessness” would be a priority for his administration.
“Dallas is a city of love and empathy,” Mayor Johnson explained in his State of the City address. “But we’re also a city that cares about health and safety and respects our residents, who simply want to walk to work or into one of our public libraries without being accosted and without fear.”
For residents and business owners, however, solutions still seem far off.
Nearly 70% of Dallas citizens believed that City Hall is not doing enough to address the problem, according to a poll recently conducted by The Dallas Express.
“The city really is not taking care of these people,” Karr suggested, “and is forcing us to deal with it.”
Karr told The Dallas Express that although he had called the police Friday morning, no officers ever arrived.
He also was in the process of reporting the encampment to the Office of Homeless Solutions.