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.”