Changes to Dallas Homeless Partnership Will Not Improve City's Response |
|
|
In a meeting last Thursday, the Dallas Area Partnership to End and Prevent Homelessness (DAPEH) discussed plans to rework its structure and leadership appointment process. DAPEH is a government partnership between Dallas County and the City of Dallas, and therefore, any changes must be accepted by both the City Council and County Commissioners Court. However, Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, who currently serves as chair of DAPEH, told The Dallas Express that the revisions to DAPEH’s articles and bylaws are unlikely to have larger effects on efforts to solve homelessness in Dallas!
Dallas’s local government spends innumerable hours and millions upon millions of dollars on its “homelessness response,” but the crisis continues. In reality, the vagrancy crisis in Dallas will never be fixed as long as our city council remains dedicated to failed Housing First policies, which prescribe housing vouchers for vagrants yet do not require employment or sobriety.
|
| The problem is not specific to Dallas. Since Housing First was adopted at the federal level 20 years ago, homelessness has increased nationally by nearly 25%!
Dallas must reject these policies that have failed for so long and institute something that works. The solution is not throwing money at the problem, but to address it strategically and responsibly.
Responsible cities, like San Antonio, have a central location to deliver services to the homeless for two reasons: first, so that those in need can access services and resources more easily; and second, so that the authorities can identify those who don’t need help but have chosen a life of vagrancy.
San Antonio’s Haven for Hope has already been proven effective! Factoring in the population increase, San Antonio’s downtown homeless count has decreased by 80% since the program was initiated!
Dallas’s government officials have a choice: allow our city to suffocate under rising violent crime and vagrancy or adopt the solutions that are proven to work so Dallas thrive again.
Contact your city council member and tell them to adopt a non-ideological, solutions-based program like Haven for Hope!
|
|
|
Minority Victims Bear Brunt of City’s Sex Trafficking Surge |
As is the case in most crime categories, minorities comprise the majority of sex trafficking victims in Dallas. Despite years of bloviation about “racial justice” and “equity,” our City Council and District Attorney have failed to improve the quality of life for those who live in so-called “under-served” communities because they are blinded by an ideological hatred of police. More police = lower crime! Blacks and Hispanics deserve safety too! Read more...
|
|
|
City No Closer to Solution on Police, Fire Pension |
A city report advised that DPD needed to hire roughly 1,000 more police officers to keep Dallas safe, but they still have not done so. Dallas’s police department struggles every year to recruit new officers and retain the ones they have for a few reasons. DPD salaries are lower than nearby (safer) jurisdictions, and on top of that, the pension system is broken! Why did City Manager Broadnax shoot down the solutions proposed by local first responder unions? Read more...
|
|
|
Jury Will Not Indict Man Accused of Assaulting Teen Trafficking Victim |
Despite claims from Dallas police that Emanuel Cartagena lured a teen girl away from a Dallas Mavericks game, sexually assaulted her, and played some role in her entry into the sex trade in Oklahoma, a jury has chosen not to indict. Either Cartegena is guilty and will walk free, or the true perpetrator is still out there. Dallas is a hub for human trafficking, but our leaders have done nothing to stop it. Read more...
|
|
|
|
Each week the KDS team drives its planned route through Dallas photo-documenting and cataloguing illegal encampments to inform the city of these locations. Our team livestreams these activities giving the community a first-hand look at the vagrancy crisis in Dallas. In this episode, we discovered a HUGE tent colony at LBJ and SH-75!
Watch here! |
|
|
District 2 Councilman Jesse Moreno's
"Blanket Camp" |
We named this camp in Jesse Moreno’s District 2 “Blanket Camp.” Vagrants often construct elaborate, sprawling tent villages that cover vacant lots or underpasses, but not all vagrants are so ostentatious. Some live their lives with nothing but a blanket or a tarp and often suffer from the worst drug addictions and mental illnesses. It is inhumane to enable vagrancy with cash handouts! |
| |
|
District 13 Councilwoman Gay Donnell Willis's
"Bank Camp" |
This camp in Gay Donnell Willis’s District 13 has been dubbed “Bank Camp,” for obvious reasons. City council passed an ordinance to ban individuals from standing in medians less than 6ft wide, but the city does not enforce it. Businesses all across Dallas are suffering because of our city council’s refusal to end the vagrancy and panhandling crisis. |
| |
|
District 6 Councilman Omar Narvaez's
"Rafter Camp" |
This camp in Omar Narvaez’s District 6 has earned the title “Rafter Camp.” Vagrants live on the streets, in the “rafters” under an overpass, and KDS has even found vagrants living inside an abandoned gas station. Not only is this dangerous but it is illegal on every level. Our city council needs to take responsibility and enforce Texas’s urban camping ban now! |
| |
|
To Report an Encampment: Dial 3-1-1 or Call (214) 670-3111 and Click on your District Councilman to Email them with the Date and Camp Location.
|
|
|
Mission Statement:
Keep Dallas Safe exists to address crime and homelessness in Dallas with the goal of transforming Dallas into the safest large city in Texas for residents and businesses. We aim to have a City Council that prioritizes crime rate which directly determines the quality of life in Dallas. We do this by fighting against the "defund the police" movement, holding accountable our city leaders' efforts towards lowering district crime rates, and highlighting our city's homelessness problems by pushing for enforcement of the prohibition of urban camping.
|
|
|
Keep Dallas Safe | 3626 North Hall St, Ste 610, Dallas, TX 75219 |
|
|
|
