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South Dallas Homeowners Upset by Vagrant Problems

South Dallas Homeowners Upset by Vagrant Problems
Homeless in North Dallas | Image by FOX 4

Veda Elliot worked 34 years in a warehouse to purchase her small, brick home in South Dallas, each month struggling to make her mortgage, pay city taxes, and keep up with the costs of maintaining a home. Now that the three-bedroom, one-bath is paid off, she is struggling with another issue: the large number of homeless and vagrant people in her neighborhood.

“I can’t walk to the little store up there and get something to drink without them asking for change,” she told The Dallas Express, speaking about the panhandlers who stand outside Emily’s Grocery on Metropolitan Avenue.

Approximately 10 homeless or vagrant men and women camp in the field across from Emily’s. The camp includes shopping carts, an assortment of chairs in different states of functionality, various food tins, and wooden boards.

Randy Williams, a self-employed contractor who lives a block from the field, told The Dallas Express that the place is “just disgusting.”

The 53-year-old owns a couple of houses in the neighborhood, and when asked how the sight of homeless and vagrant people walking around panhandling would help the image of South Dallas, he said, “Would you rent in a neighborhood if that’s what you saw every day?”

Williams, who grew up in South Dallas, added, “I’d lose money on that.”

Both he and Elliot worry about home values, saying homeless people and vagrants walking around asking for change and living in vacant lots will drive prices down.

Property theft is also an issue in their neighborhood, and they blame the homeless and vagrants for a portion of the crimes. Williams had tools stolen from job sites, and Elliot had a car broken into, losing several items to the thief.

As of late, the two claimed it seems like the situation is worsening.

Elliot said the field across from Emily’s Grocery is accumulating homeless people and vagrants, and she is noticing more strangers walking up and down the neighborhood.

The theft and unsanitary conditions have Williams asking a simple question: “Where is the City?”

Williams’ simple question is echoed by many taxpayers in Dallas asking what the City is doing about the homeless and vagrancy problem, and they all agree it is a problem.

“It seems the City is more willing to encourage homelessness than fight it,” he added.

Indeed, some homeless view Dallas as a destination city of sorts, telling The Dallas Express, “This isn’t a bad city to be homeless in.”

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18 Comments

  1. inge

    Welcome to our world. We have them too.

    Reply
  2. Jimmy

    We are going to end up like Seattle

    Reply
  3. Dwayne

    Since Covid the homeless problem has grown
    Substantially. The pleasant Grove area has been overrun by homeless taking up residence in doorways of business and In alleys and everywhere else they can get. This has become a very real safety problem and our elected officials are doing nothing.

    Reply
    • ed lopez

      What’s Abbott and the state of Texas doing?

      Reply
      • Ricky

        The question should be, what is the CITY doing? This is an issue for the municipality.

        Reply
        • Angela

          It’s a national problem. No one wants them in their neighborhood, but where are they supposed to go? Many of these people have jobs, but cannot afford housing. There is a shortage of affordable housing because everyone wants to be Donald Trump and they demand kickbacks and so forth, making it too costly. It won’t be solved until people see it as a problem bigger than their neighborhood or city.

          Reply
      • Troy Forbus

        It’s not a state problem, it’s a city problem. What is the City authorities doing about it?

        Reply
        • ed lopez

          Every major city in texas has this problem, it’s a statewide problem.

          Reply
  4. kathleen

    They are everywhere. I have them in my neighborhood in a North Dallas suburb. I have seen tent cities under LBJ and Central. It is a mental health crisis. Often they refuse to live by the rules in the homeless shelters. I pray when i do give them cash, they use it wisely and not on drugs or alcohol. but I know it’s like feeding the bears in a national park. No easy solutions.

    Reply
    • mikela

      STOP GIVING THEM CASH! They are not using it wisely. You are part of the problem giving cash. It is a magnet. STOP IT!

      Reply
      • T B

        Yes it was reported that most of the cash is used for drugs and they asked people to stop giving cash to them. We enable a lot of people.

        Reply
  5. Charles Cas Michel Gerarrd

    Turn Dallas BLUE & all the problems are magically solved!!’.
    Unicorns & Fairy dust.

    …..Oh that’s right we don’t have to turn Dallas BLUE, it’s already been BLUE for quite a while.

    And there you have it!.

    BLUE: the colour of hypoxia, the colour that you turn right before you die.

    KEEP VOTING [D]emocrammunist Where socialism are crammed down your throat at the expense of your hard earned money with no real solutions ever solving the problems just ever increasing taxes & incessant Podium banging.

    Reply
  6. Y. Lyons

    City, State, no matter. Start from the top… it’s a Government issue! The funding for “Mental health” is there. Get these PPL the help that they need. And those that cannot abide by sm type of “general rules” should be incarcerated for a period of time until they can do better. Mistakes were made when they closed down the mental institutions. They were displaced into society. A lot of them aren’t as crazy as they pretend. Yet they’re smart enough to learn how to “beat the system & Play the game”. They NO longer have to live by social/societal rules. ENOUGH!!! I’ve been hmless myself, so I can empathize. But I NEVER CHOSE to sleep on the ground, panhandle/trespass, etc. I moved from shelter to shelter for 4 yrs until I got help through housing services. It’s simply become easier for them to live on the streets.

    Reply
  7. mikela

    Whom ever owns that property should be held responsible. They need to fence it off, post trespassing signs, monitor the property often and call the police when someone squats. The owner should be made to pay for the cost of clean up.Perhaps the area homeowners can bring suit against the property owner and take his ass to court.

    Reply
  8. Amy

    Part of the issue that theft is no longer a punishable crime in Dallas. We need to get that DA, John Creuzot, OUT of here – along with all the people who support him.

    Reply
  9. T B

    I’ve been on the city as well regarding this problem but closer to the Dallas/Duncanville area. People living under bridges, homeless tents, grocery carts with trash and their wares in them. Some of this is near several restuarants and that one is unsanitary (trash, empty food containers, etc) and unsightly.

    I sent emails showing pictures and I had to do it several times before I got results. But guess what, it’s back a mess! I would love to see the homeless resolution plan that the city claims to have in place. Something is not working.

    As I explained in my email to them, let’s be proactive rather than reactive!

    If the city DOES NOT get a handle on this, Dallas will slowly turn into Los Angeles!

    My suggestion is to call 311 and report it. Email and send pictures to the city with address or area of the problem.

    This will take the efforts of all of us to get control of and I am including finding solutions to homelessness.

    Reply
  10. Doretha Reeves

    I’m guessing few people are homeless because they want to be. Some need mental health care, others need jobs that can help pay for decent housing, and some are teens put out for some infraction or another. Most of us are living pay check to paycheck because everything from eggs to bread costs too much. We can’t blame them for being homeless. We need solutions , not more griping.

    Reply
  11. Steven

    I moved here from LA 4 years ago to get away from the horrible democratic policies in California. Those same horrible policies are now infecting Texas with politicians like Beto and the current Dallas DA. You have have laws and regulations against trespassing and vagrancy all that needs to be done is to enforce them and elect people who will uphold the rules. I moved to Texas because I thought it was a law and order state. I didn’t move here to turn it into another California or San Francisco or a Seattle. I respect Texas values and I want those values preserved. If you’ve had enough of this crap going on in your community the only answer is to NOT vote democrat for any reason. I have personally experienced the decline and fall or LA and California. I know why this happened and the answer is simple DO NOT VOTE DEMOCRAT. Until the D party understands that we make the rules not them, voting R is the only solution for the moment. We are supposed to live in a representative republic. We tell the politicians what to do and how to do it, not the other way around.

    Reply

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