Dallas City officials and residents are mulling over a recommendation by City staff to use another former hotel for homeless housing.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Office of Homeless Solutions (OHS) Director Christine Crossley briefed the City Council Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee on its plan last month.
The “temporary housing” project would be a partnership between the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and the City of Dallas. While the facility’s management would be paid for by AHF, case management and supportive services for the formerly homeless residents of the facility would be paid for by the City to the tune of $3 million of taxpayer money.
The building that would be used to house people is the former MCM Elegante Hotel at 2330 W Northwest Hwy. AHF purchased it in January of this year.
During the meeting last month, Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12) questioned whether funding the project would be wise considering the City has two other facilities that were purchased with taxpayer money to be used for homeless services, but they have yet to open: the former Miramar Hotel and a former hospital on Hampton Road.
Mendelsohn maintained that the OHS should sort out its other projects before launching another initiative.
“I think you need to consider selling something. We have projects that are just absolutely languishing,” she told Crossley. “I don’t think you have the staff to be able to handle another project.”
Crossley told NBC 5 DFW she is confident her office can successfully complete the projects.
“Council has asked us before to figure out how we do more with less and to look at more private partnerships, so we’re leveraging for more impact across the City,” she said. “They can say what they want to say, but the general consensus that we have been given is that there is a lot of support for moving forward.”
Resident Holly Lewis Johnson, who works across the street from the former Elegante Hotel where the project would be developed, said she believes it could be effective.
“There’s already an epidemic around here as far as homelessness goes,” she told NBC 5. “I drive in early every morning, and I see tents, and I see people laid out all over on the streets, on the corner, on the medians.”
“And it’s very disheartening, so perhaps it would make sense,” Johnson continued. “I’m not against it. I’m not 100% for it. But I feel like it’s set apart, and that’s where it’s not adjacent to neighborhoods.”
Johnson’s concerns with the prevalence of homelessness are consistent with recent polling conducted by The Dallas Express, which found that more than 80% of city residents are frustrated with homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling in their neighborhoods and throughout Dallas.
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Haven for Hope has been credited with a 77% reduction in homelessness in San Antonio. Haven for Hope operates a “one-stop-shop” for homeless services, providing both housing and supportive services like counseling, rehabilitation, and job skills development on the same campus.
The strategy has polled favorably among Dallas residents. Mayor Eric Johnson recently visited the campus, but it remains to be seen whether the City of Dallas will pursue a similar approach.