A homeless man was reportedly stabbed and robbed by another homeless individual near Haven for Hope in San Antonio on Wednesday.
The incident began when the victim was sleeping on a bus stop bench and was awakened by the alleged suspect. A conflict ensued. Police were dispatched, and the two men were separated. The suspect was seen leaving the area but returned about 30 minutes after the officers left.
He allegedly stabbed the victim in the stomach, took some of the man’s belongings, and then left the area. The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was reported to be in stable condition.
Initial reports indicated the alleged suspect was at large; however, police later confirmed they had located him and had placed him under arrest. The unidentified suspect now faces charges of aggravated robbery.
Haven for Hope is a non-profit organization that operates a “one-stop-shop” for homeless services, offering recovery programs and job training on the same campus where it maintains transitional housing. The “one-stop-shop” model has been credited with reducing unsheltered homelessness in San Antonio’s downtown area by 77%.
The organization has trained security staff on site that work to prevent acts of violence, and the shelter has purportedly rarely experienced violence on campus.
In 2022, two security guards and a homeless man were shot after a man was denied access to the shelter, reported SBG San Antonio. The suspect in that incident allegedly started fighting with the guards and took one’s firearm. All three of the parties involved sustained injuries from the altercation.
Closer to home, violence continues to be a problem on the streets of Dallas. While overall violent crime is down, murders spiked by around 15% last year, with the majority of victims logged as either black or Hispanic, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Dallas spends much less taxpayer money on law enforcement than other high-crime cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.
The Dallas Police Department only has around 3,000 officers in the field despite a City analysis advising roughly 4,000 are needed. Relatedly, Downtown Dallas routinely sees way more criminal activity than Fort Worth’s city center, the latter of which is patrolled by a dedicated special police unit that works alongside private security guards.
Efforts to solve the homelessness problem in Dallas have also not been very successful. The City of Dallas has yet to try the “one-stop-shop” strategy utilized by Haven for Hope despite the model polling favorably among Dallas residents. Some local stakeholders are looking to bring such an operation to Dallas, but it remains to be seen whether City officials will give it a shot.
Meanwhile, some 75% of Dallas residents say they think homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling continue to be “major” problems throughout the City.