San Antonio’s Haven for Hope was held aloft by the Texas State Senate Tuesday as a shining example for treating homelessness.
Haven for Hope CEO Kim Jefferies and several other homeless advocates testified before the Senate’s Committee on State Affairs, where the panel explored programs to treat the scourge of homelessness.
Jefferies testified Haven for Hope has a 22-acre campus in San Antonio and is currently housing 1,655 people who had previously lived on the street, with a maximum capacity of about 1,815 beds.
She told senators the key to a successful outreach program is to match the number of available beds with readily accessible “wrap-around services,” such as mental health and substance abuse counseling, as well as job training.
Tyler Abrogast, executive director for Dallas’ Refuge for Renewal, hailed Haven for Hope’s model during testimony.
“The problem is clear,” he said. “Our approach to homeless in Texas is too fragmented.”
He pleaded for lawmakers to have the state take a larger role.
“What we need is a coherent, cohesive approach,” he said.
Abrogast advocated for building a campus in Dallas, but outside of downtown and away from residential neighborhoods where homeless can receive the shelter, training and counseling they need.
Monty Bennett, the publisher of The Dallas Express, extolled the performance of Haven for Hope while testifying, and hailed it as model that can be replicated in big city’s across the state.
He said Haven for Hope is effective on two fronts: Emergency responders or concerned members of the community have one unified location to bring homeless residents seeking assistance. And the unified campus provides mental health, job training and other services directly on site.
“The cities have given valiant effort,” he said, but noted, “I do believe the state needs to get involved” to set up a universal framework.
With state assistance, “We can hit this issue head-on.”
He said a large campus in Dallas outside of downtown would enable the homeless to get the services they need, while also removing homeless encampments to return public spaces for use by residents.
Mark Nunneley, a senior managing director at the Dallas-based Ashford Hospitality Trust, told senators intrusive homeless “encampments” repeatedly pop up around Dallas city hall, causing concerns about safety and the impact on local businesses.
“The city of Dallas has clearly not solved this problem,” he said.
Haven for Hope’s model has been credited with reducing unsheltered homelessness in San Antonio’s downtown area by 77%.
The core reason for the success of the “one-stop-shop” model is its ability to provide the essential services needed to get a person off the streets. Such services are made available through partnerships with other organizations.
“What it is really about is not putting a bandaid on the problem,” Jefferies said on a podcast earlier this year. “It is really wrapping around the individual with whatever services they might need and eliminating barriers to access and entry into those services.”
With help from its partners, Haven for Hope offers medical, dental, vision services, detox, in-patient treatments, substance use and mental health co-occurring treatment, counseling, and other mental health services.
Haven also provides case management, housing services, workforce development services, parent training, GED classes, ID recovery, and financial literacy classes to help individuals overcome and thrive as they progress toward reentry into society.
“I think one of the unique things about Haven is it meets people where they are at,” Jefferies said.
She said the idea for Haven for Hope originated after Bill Greehey and a San Antonio task force found that no organization was comprehensively tackling the problem of homelessness in the city. The nonprofit became fully operational in 2010 and serves nearly 10,000 people per year.
Despite the success Haven for Hope has seen in its comprehensive approach to homelessness, the City of Dallas has yet to try a similar strategy. On the municipal level, there is considerable disagreement over the causes of and solutions to homelessness and the scope of the problem itself.
Dallas residents continue to point to homelessness, vagrancy, and aggressive panhandling as “major” concerns in the city.
