More than 80% of Dallas residents said they were unhappy with the amount of homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling in the city.
Recent polling conducted by The Dallas Express found that 81.8% of Dallasites are dissatisfied with “the number of homeless individuals, vagrants, or panhandlers” they have seen in their neighborhood and “elsewhere in the City of Dallas.”
Similarly, 73.3% of city residents who answered the survey said they were unhappy with “the number of visible homeless encampments” in their neighborhoods and around the city.
The same survey found that most Dallasites believe the City government is doing a poor job of “keeping crime low; addressing homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling; keeping public spaces clean; facilitating construction and expansion through its building permitting process; and providing a favorable environment to conduct business.”
Some 75.3% of respondents said the City was “on the wrong track.”
Furthermore, 72.5% of residents said they disapprove of City Manager T.C. Broadnax and how effective he has been in carrying out the fundamental responsibilities of local government.
The poll results follow a City satisfaction survey that found 75% of Dallas residents think homelessness continues to be a “major” problem throughout the city.
Still, neither the City of Dallas nor local nonprofits like Housing Forward have employed the “one-stop-shop” strategy used by Haven for Hope in San Antonio.
Haven for Hope provides supportive services on the same campus as housing to make things like counseling, rehab, and job training more accessible to its clients. Furthermore, clients must agree to participate in such services in order to join Haven for Hope’s “Transformational Campus.”
The strategy has been credited with a 77% reduction in homelessness in San Antonio and has polled favorably among Dallas residents. Mayor Eric Johnson recently visited Haven for Hope, but whether such a model will be adopted in Dallas remains to be seen.
The aforementioned survey also found that more than three-quarters of Dallas residents are not satisfied with the quality of roads in the city, as covered by The Dallas Express.