A majority of Dallas County residents who are likely to vote in municipal elections view homelessness and vagrancy as serious problems, according to a new survey commissioned by The Dallas Express in March.
A total of 53% of respondents identified as both frequent municipal voters and Dallas County residents acknowledged that homelessness and vagrancy were serious issues. On the other hand, 22% disagreed, while an additional 25% admitted to being unsure.
This comes as the City of Dallas has been faced with a “scourge of homelessness,” as described by Mayor Eric Johnson. Johnson recently announced the formation of a new task force intended to study the issue and provide actionable steps to reduce the number of vagrants in the city.
“We also have residents of this city who are also trying to get by and do right by their families and their communities who want to go to work every day and come home,” Johnson explained at a press conference attended by The Dallas Express.
“Unfortunately, they see growing numbers of encampments in their neighborhoods. They see people passed out on the sidewalks. They see people walking naked on the streets,” he added. “They see trash. They see waste. They see tents pitched on our freeway underpasses.”
“They want and they expect to live in a city that does not tolerate, and certainly does not facilitate, disorder,” the mayor concluded.
Polling seems to confirm this claim, as 51% of respondents in The Dallas Express survey said they favored a plan “to require the homeless, vagrants, and panhandlers to occupy only one small specific area of town where all the homeless services are located instead of roaming wherever they like.”
Some 26% disagreed, and 23% answered that they did not know.
These findings conform to prior trends suggested by The Dallas Express polls, as well as to research conducted by outside groups.
In February, 50% of respondents told The Dallas Express that they considered homelessness and vagrancy a pressing issue for the City. Similarly, a recent poll commissioned by Mayor Johnson found that homelessness was considered one of the top three most significant problems Dallas faced.
