The City of Dallas is set to roll out a program that would provide temporary restrooms near homeless encampments around the city.
The restrooms will be placed at seven main places around South and downtown Dallas, where they will remain for 90 days. The locations, which include the Medical District and Woodall Rodgers Freeway at Field Street, were carefully considered to avoid any encouragement of panhandling, per Christine Crossley, director of the Office of Homeless Solutions.
City Council members may decide to rotate the locations around homeless encampments in Dallas, in which case the placement of the restrooms would be chosen based on calls made to 311. The decision will be dependent on the progress made by the program.
The pilot program for port-a-potties is the city’s latest effort in regards to the homeless population in Dallas, and will cost $23,000 a year if council members make it permanent.
Council members revealed that the need for a sanitary restroom has been made apparent by the large number of public nuisance complaints the city has received.
Among the complaints regarding the homelessness issue in Dallas are those of the advocacy group Keep Dallas Safe (KDS), which has been writing letters to Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Dallas City Council about homeless encampments in the city.
In a statement to The Dallas Express, President of KDS Daniel Taylor said this approach might help veil the issue of homelessness, but does more to indirectly encourage the problem than to solve it.
“These are half measures, at best. The city has refused to [comply] with HB1925, which bans camping in public areas, [and] instead does things like this which tacitly approve of the tent cities. HB1925 has a mechanism within it that would allow the city to have these camps, but they have not done anything to follow that part of the law, either. The city claims they have the resources to get all of the homeless off the streets. It’s time they stop beating around the bush and do it.”
Crossley says she sees the restrooms as a step in the right direction.
“This is another step towards an acknowledgment, [basically,] ‘You do need a place to go that is humane, and we care. But we are also going to move you into housing. We are not going to stay here,’” Crossley said during a committee meeting.
Crossley stated the restrooms would be cleaned three times a week, and added that the city could increase that number if it proved necessary.
The Office of Homeless Solutions will report the program’s progress to city council members in May, and city officials stated the public is expected to alert them about any problems caused by its implementation.