Ending Homelessness in Dallas – Putting Theory Into Practice: The COVID-19 Imperative – We Must Act Now

COVID-19 has lent a sense of urgency to our community’s task. Researchers have long held that warehousing those experiencing homelessness in crowded shelters was not a great idea. Time and again studies have shown that is, in fact, cheaper to house people than to keep them in homelessness. Still, the Dallas community, like many others, has resisted providing the resources to house those experiencing homelessness, going so far as to let $20 million raised through a bond election in 2017 go unspent. As former Dallas city council member, Mark Clayton, said, “Everyone wants to help the homeless, except in their own neighborhoods.” Perhaps, the thinking was that leaving those experiencing homelessness in crowded shelters and on the streets would never affect any of us, directly. With COVID-19, it will.[i]

Towards the end of the 2020 State of Homelessness Address, Falconer said that, Dallas must apply important lessons from the Coronavirus pandemic. “It is teaching us,” he said, “to look out for everyone in our community. It is teaching us that as a community we can and will go to great lengths to keep each other safe. It is teaching us that our community is only as strong as the weakest in our community. It is teaching us that we are all connected. It is teaching us that a home is more than four walls and a roof; a home is healthcare, public safety, family, community.” We must act now to make this a reality for everyone.

Dallas’ homeless response system is already reeling, and a tsunami of need may be just around the corner. “Nearly a third of U.S. apartment renters didn’t pay any of their April rent during the first week of the month,” according to the Wall Street Journal[ii]. This means that MDHA, which has just begun to turn the tide in the fight to end homelessness, is already and will continue to be severely tested in the days to come. MDHA’s work will increase exponentially, as it works with its partners to not only continue to work towards ending homelessness but prevent others from falling into it. It will be directly facilitating the distribution of more than $9 million of state Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG), funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020[iii], as well as advising local governments on how to distribute what we estimate will be their own $26 million of ESG and $74 million of other streams of HUD funding, in a way that maximizes the impact of all of these Federal dollars. MDHA will be doing this work, in addition to all its regular work, without a commensurate increase in its own Federal funding.

Here are just a few things you can do to help:

Donate to MDHA [wp_paypal button=”donate” name=”Donate” target=”_blank”]
- On May 5, 2020, you can donate to MDHA, through the North Texas Giving Tuesday Now campaign. Early giving has already begun! Just go to: https://www.northtexasgivingday.org/metro-dallas-homeless-alliance
Support organizations which are part of our homeless response system. Together, we do what the data and research show really works, not what we think will work, or what we hope will work. Check out the rest of this website to learn more.
Volunteer for the annual Homeless Count every year in the last ten days of January. In 2021, it will be on January 21^st. We need 1,500 volunteers to get the job done. Text MDHA to 22828 to get on our email list, and we’ll let you know when registration begins.
Invite MDHA to speak about homelessness and how we can end it. We will come to your workplace, house of worship, social group or club. Contact David Gruber, Development and Communications Director at 469-222-0047 or david.gruber@mdhadallas.org. (In these COVID-19 times, we can do it all remotely, too!)
Advocate for more housing for those experiencing homelessness, paid for by a variety of funding sources, government and non-government, in your neighborhood. Housing is the only proven solution to homelessness, and contrary to popular myth, housing those experiencing homelessness doesn’t lower property rates and doesn’t increase crime.