Homelessness on the rise nationwide, but down in Dallas and Collin counties

Dallas and Collin counties have seen homelessness decline for the third year in a row, according to the latest data from an annual survey of homeless people.

This year's annual count found 3,718 people experiencing homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties on a single night in January, which Housing Forward noted is a 19% decrease in overall homelessness since 2021. Last year , there were 4,244 people counted as homeless in both counties, meaning the two counties saw an overall decrease of 12%.

The decrease comes even though the number of homeless people nationwide has been on the rise in recent years. It's a clear sign that the strategies used in the homeless response system are working, said Housing Forward CEO Sarah Kahn.

“We are doing an incredible job together and showing incredible results. But I don't think there's anybody in this room that's saying our work is done,” Kahn said.

Housing Forward released the data at a breakfast at the Winspear Opera House attended by elected officials and staff from many organizations that work with people experiencing homelessness.

Not far from the affluent location, Kahn noted, people live on the streets.

“In the shadows of one of America's best art neighborhoods, there are people literally living in tents, storing their belongings in shopping carts and warming themselves around a fire pit. This is in America, one of the richest countries in the world,” Kahn said.

Housing first

Kahn said homelessness would jump 24% by 2021, when a $72 million initiative to move people off the streets and into long-term housing with supportive services was launched. Just a few weeks ago, Kahn said, a camp not far from the opera house was closed after its residents were helped into their apartments.

This camp deactivation strategy relies on teams of field workers who spend months working with people living in camps to understand what each individual needs, connect them with assistance services and programs, and to find them an apartment where a case helps them stay at home.

“More than 95% of those we engage in encampment say yes to housing, despite common myths that our homeless neighbors are resistant to service,” said Rae Clay, Housing Forward's chief program officer.

Dallas has also increased federal funding to expand efforts to help people who are newly homeless find a place to stay. It's a problem-solving approach that can mean helping people move in with friends or family, Clay said, and it frees up housing space and prevents people from experiencing the debilitating trauma that comes with long-term homelessness.

The majority of people experiencing homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties are black, according to the data. This is despite the fact that black families make up only 19% of households, a disparity created by historical and ongoing policies and practices that, intentionally or not, harm black communities. Clay said there has been a “renewed focus” on addressing racial disparities in the homeless response system.

System transformation

The report also found that veteran homelessness fell 21% since last year's count. Youth homelessness decreased by 22% and family homelessness decreased by 15%.

Christopher Connelly

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KERA News

David Woody, CEO of the Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, said a “system transformation” launched in 2020 is driving the positive results. This transformation has united the homelessness response network in the Dallas region, so fewer people fall through the cracks. It also helped the two-county system attract much more federal funding and support to expand efforts.

“We are making progress, progress that has allowed our continuum of care to better compete for the resources needed to support the various housing solutions our community needs,” Woody said, “an outcome that seemed nearly impossible four or five years ago.”

Between 2015 and 2021, homelessness in both counties increased by 45% from 2015 to 2021. The massive infusion of federal funds during the pandemic and recently helped fuel the work of transforming the system and resulted in three years of declining homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties.

Kahn and other presenters noted that strategies used to reduce homelessness in the region are working even as housing and other costs squeeze more and more families.

“We need to expand our camping response from the road into the home, and we've lined up the resources to do that. But we have to go faster and we have to go further this year,” Kahn said. “We all hear from our friends, our family, other community members that they're not feeling that progress. And the only way we as a community are going to feel this progress is if we continue to move faster around the community and target areas where people are living outside and support them moving into apartments.”

Do you have a tip? Christopher Connelly is KERA's One Crisis Away reporter, exploring life on the financial edge. Email Christopher at cconnelly@kera.orgYou can follow Christopher on Twitter @hithisischris.

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