Dallas Addresses Homelessness In a Major Way
There is a terrific article in the Dallas Observer that highlights the new approach that Dallas is taking to end homelessness. Led by the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, and its leader Mike Faenza, the central facility for this new initiative is “The Bridge”, an amazing multi-service center for people who are homeless in Dallas.
The center will open next week, after years of hard work and over $20 million of city funds.
The approach is simple—accept all people who are struggling with homelessness, especially those who have been on the streets the longest and who struggle with the most barriers (the “chronic homeless”.)
The article says: Mike Faenza likes to tell his staff that the more times a person has been in jail, arrested or beaten up, the more welcome he will be at The Bridge.
The origins of this center is described in the article:
The task force settled on a campus setting for the new center where people could eat, sleep and have access to services. The idea—a kind of shopping mall of social services—was gaining national popularity, and centers had sprung up in Miami and San Diego. The Dallas facility would have a courtyard with plenty of natural light. "We did not want it to be an enclosed environment," Dunning [Dallas’ former Homeless Czar] says. "Many chronically homeless people have a fear of being in an enclosed environment." The task force also envisioned that the homeless, by availing themselves of the services offered at the center, would be primed for re-entry into regular life.
One program, which gives homeless people keys to their own apartments, ended in chaos. "In six months, many of the apartments had been trashed, the furniture had been sold, and the copper had been ripped out," Dunning says. "What we found from talking about chronic homelessness is that once a person has been on the streets for many years, it's hard to transition them into single-room occupancy or an apartment without proper counseling."
Next week is the beginning of the end of homelessness in Dallas. (PATH Dallas is privileged to be one of the program partners at The Bridge.)
(Pic is of Mike Faenza standing in front of The Bridge.)
The center will open next week, after years of hard work and over $20 million of city funds.
The approach is simple—accept all people who are struggling with homelessness, especially those who have been on the streets the longest and who struggle with the most barriers (the “chronic homeless”.)
The article says: Mike Faenza likes to tell his staff that the more times a person has been in jail, arrested or beaten up, the more welcome he will be at The Bridge.
The origins of this center is described in the article:
The task force settled on a campus setting for the new center where people could eat, sleep and have access to services. The idea—a kind of shopping mall of social services—was gaining national popularity, and centers had sprung up in Miami and San Diego. The Dallas facility would have a courtyard with plenty of natural light. "We did not want it to be an enclosed environment," Dunning [Dallas’ former Homeless Czar] says. "Many chronically homeless people have a fear of being in an enclosed environment." The task force also envisioned that the homeless, by availing themselves of the services offered at the center, would be primed for re-entry into regular life.
One program, which gives homeless people keys to their own apartments, ended in chaos. "In six months, many of the apartments had been trashed, the furniture had been sold, and the copper had been ripped out," Dunning says. "What we found from talking about chronic homelessness is that once a person has been on the streets for many years, it's hard to transition them into single-room occupancy or an apartment without proper counseling."
Next week is the beginning of the end of homelessness in Dallas. (PATH Dallas is privileged to be one of the program partners at The Bridge.)
(Pic is of Mike Faenza standing in front of The Bridge.)
posted by LA's Homeless Blog at
9:53 AM
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