Oak Cliff residents are saying the City should sell the former hospital it purchased to serve as a homeless services center.
The City of Dallas spent $6.5 million of taxpayer money on the vacant former University General Hospital in January 2022, planning to renovate the location into a housing site for the homeless. The project became a focus of controversy after residents expressed frustration over poor communication on the City’s part.
Residents have also been concerned about the location’s proximity to an elementary school and public park. The facility, located at 2929 S. Hampton Rd., has remained vacant since the project stagnated at City Hall, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Some Dallas City Council members recently voiced support for selling the facility, and now Oak Cliff residents are also coming out in favor of the idea.
“Nobody in our area is opposed to helping the homeless. But the city’s approach was so bad, even if you’re Ray Charles, you could see it,” resident Darryl Baker told The Dallas Morning News.
Baker served on a community workforce group the City solicited for feedback.
“They never asked us if this use would be a good fit here; they just told us after the fact that it was coming,” he said. “Who builds trust like that?”
Baker said he hopes a developer uses the property to build homes.
“It could be a golden opportunity to do so,” he said. “Whatever it is, we just want to feel like we’re part of it from the beginning.”
Resident Christina Bristow was also a part of the community workgroup before deciding to leave it. She said she believed the City was not effectively informing people about the project.
“I withdrew from the group because I felt like I was being coerced into doing something that was damaging to people who had no idea what was going on,” she told DMN.
Both Bristow and Baker said the City told the community workgroup that the site would focus on housing homeless men aged 25 to 50. However, Bristow said staff later told them it would primarily house women and children. She added that it was unclear how the former hospital’s medical facilities would be utilized.
“The community’s concerns haven’t really been addressed, and at this point, I’m hoping they just sell it,” Bristow said. “The City’s going to lose money on the deal, but there’s a chance to move forward with something people can feel good about.”
Council Members Zarin Gracey (District 3) and Carolyn King Arnold (District 4), who represent residents near the project, expressed sympathy for residents’ frustrations. Arnold, the only official who voted against purchasing the property in 2022, argued for listening to resident feedback.
“For me, the hope for that property is that we will do the right thing by the people in that community,” she told DMN. “And doing the right thing means listening to the community.”
Arnold previously spoke in favor of selling the property, as reported by DX, and Gracey told DMN that City staff will brief the Dallas City Council Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee on potential paths forward in March.
“But I’ve been clear that if the community does not like these plans, whatever they may be, then we should sell it,” he said. “That is my position.”
However, Gracey said he was unsure council members would approve a sale of the property, adding that residents have been reluctant to support the City’s plans for the facility after previous frustrations.
“I just don’t know that the community has ever healed from that,” he told DMN. “I think this is more of a ‘they tried to sneak this on us’ issue than it is a ‘not in my backyard’ issue.”
In December, the Dallas City Council approved spending $34,200 on the consulting firm Wright Choice Group LLC for work related to the project, including organizing meetings to gather input from the public.
Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia, whose district includes the project location, said in a December 13 letter to Gracey that she opposes using the location for homeless services.
“I am strongly opposed to building any type of homeless facility on the property at 2929 S. Hampton Rd. This location is adjacent to a school and a neighborhood and directly across the street from a library and a park,” she wrote. “A homeless facility is not an appropriate addition to this location.”
“[D]uring the only public meeting that was held, residents in the adjacent and surrounding neighborhoods clearly demonstrated that they are strongly opposed to this project,” she continued. “Dallas County will not contribute any funding towards a homeless facility or services at this location.”
Garcia said she would support using the property to develop single-family homes.
Arnold and Gracey, along with residents Baker and Bristow, also told DMN they believe that residents would support single-family homes and other options, including condos, a senior living facility, and retail space.
While the City pursues various homeless service projects throughout Dallas, it has yet to adopt the “one-stop-shop” model used by Haven for Hope in San Antonio, where housing and supportive services are provided on a single campus.
The model has been credited with a 77% reduction in unsheltered homelessness in downtown San Antonio. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, some local stakeholders are now working to bring the model to Dallas. Still, whether the City government will support the effort remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, polling has found that Dallas residents disapprove of the levels of homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling throughout the city.
