Mayor Eric Johnson’s task force on homelessness has released its final report, which includes recommendations to dissolve entities intended to create accountability in the government’s effort to combat homelessness and vagrancy.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Johnson formed the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness, Organizations, Policies, and Encampments (HOPE) in February and tasked it with finding concrete solutions to reducing homelessness in Dallas.
The task force’s report of recommendations was due on June 15 and was released to the public on Friday, June 30.
Among its recommendations to the City, the task force suggests dissolving two entities: the Dallas Area Partnership to End and Prevent Homelessness and the Citizen’s Homelessness Commission.
The stated reason for this recommendation is “to reduce redundancy” in homelessness response efforts.
The Partnership was formed in response to a 2016 report on homelessness with the stated goal of developing a “coordinated” approach to combating homelessness across various entities, including Dallas County, the Dallas City Council, the City of Dallas Office of Homeless Solutions, and nonprofit organizations such as Housing Forward.
According to a three-year strategic plan released in 2018, the Partnership is intended to maintain accountability.
One of the Partnership’s stated action items is to “develop shared goals and clear performance measures and benchmarks that all system agencies will be measured against [and] monitor progress against those goals.”
Dallas County Commissioner Theresa Daniel has chaired the Partnership since it was formed. Dallas City Council Member Cara Mendelsohn joined the partnership in May.
The Dallas Express contacted both Commissioner Daniel and Council Member Mendelsohn for comment.
Commissioner Daniel told The Dallas Express that while she appreciates the task force’s input, she questions whether dissolving the Partnership is wise for the rest of Dallas County.
“As far as the City of Dallas is concerned, that may be true,” she said in reference to the task force’s claim that homeless response efforts are administratively redundant. “But what about the rest of the county?”
Council Member Mendelsohn did not respond by press time.
The Citizen Homelessness Commission, which the task force also recommended dissolving, is an “advisory body” whose intended purpose is “to assure participation” from all relevant stakeholders, such as community members and the homeless themselves, while making policy recommendations to the City Council and City manager.
Thus far, reactions to the task force’s report have reflected disappointment.
“The tardiness & opacity of the report notwithstanding, it still demonstrates the absolute failure of [City Manager T.C. Broadnax] and the City Council in battling this exponentially growing problem,” wrote the organization Dallas Matters on Twitter.
Former Dallas City Council District 11 candidate and real estate journalist Candace Evans remarked that the report was released after the recent Dallas City Council elections.
The next step for the report and recommendations from the HOPE Task Force is to be referred to a standing committee of the City Council for consideration and possible action. Having served its purpose, the task force is now disbanded.
Mayor Johnson claims that the report from his task force “contains valuable recommendations,” calling for “enhanced behavioral health support for individuals experiencing homelessness, reductions in the redundancy of homelessness response efforts, and required data sharing among public and private funders of homeless services to improve collective problem solving.”
Still, the task force’s recommendations come shortly after a satisfaction survey from the City of Dallas revealed that 75% of local residents believe homelessness remains a “major” problem.
Furthermore, polling from The Dallas Express has shown that parents, in particular, are significantly concerned about homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling.
The City of Dallas has employed several strategies in its efforts to combat homelessness, most of which have prioritized housing first. However, it has yet to consider the approach taken by the City of San Antonio through its partnership with the nonprofit Haven for Hope.
Through this partnership, Haven for Hope offers a “one-stop shop” solution that provides housing and supportive services in a single location rather than dispersed throughout the city.
This strategy keeps the problem and its potential solutions contained in one geographic area and is supported by Dallas voters.
