The leaders of Haven for Hope recently spoke with The Dallas Express co-founder Sarah Zubiate Bennett about the organization’s secrets to success.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Haven for Hope has been credited with a 77% reduction in homelessness in San Antonio through the implementation of an all-in-one strategy that supplies housing for the homeless on the same campus as supportive service.
Co-founder Sarah Zubiate Bennett visited Haven for Hope and spoke with its team about how the organization has achieved this level of success for the second episode of The Dallas Express Podcast.
CEO Kim Jefferies said one of the key factors contributing to Haven for Hope’s success is that it offers an array of services for the homeless at the same facility.
“The co-location of services is key,” she said. “Eliminating barriers to entry.”
Haven for Hope offers medical, dental, and vision care, ID recovery, legal services, substance abuse recovery, veterans services, counseling, and job skills development all on the same campus.
“Not having to take a bus here and take a bus here and take a bus here to get to those appointments,” Jefferies said. “People learn how to renavigate community and reintegrate into community before they go back out into this large city, and they take those relationships with them.”
Jefferies’ full conversation with Bennett on The Dallas Express Podcast can be viewed here:
As previously covered by The Dallas Express, Haven’s 22-acre site is home to a “Transformational Campus” where case managers work one-on-one with clients to determine the best path forward for them.
The City of Dallas has yet to implement an approach similar to the “one-stop-shop” strategy employed by Haven for Hope, although the latter has polled favorably among Dallas residents. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson recently visited Haven for Hope in San Antonio, but it remains to be seen whether the City of Dallas will consider similar policies.
Meanwhile, 75% of Dallas residents believe homelessness and vagrancy continue to be “major” problems throughout the city.