State of Homelessness & Point-In-Time (PIT) Count

Housing Forward, on behalf of the All Neighbors Coalition, hosted the annual State of Homelessness Address on May 14th, where we announced a fifth consecutive year of sustained decreases in homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties.

During the address, Housing Forward President & CEO Sarah Kahn announced the launch of Street to Home Phase 2, which will expand the success of the original Street to Home initiative seen in downtown in targeted areas across our region.

“The World Cup will come and go, but what will remain is the best-in-class homeless response system this community has spent the last five years building — one that has bucked national trends through a relentless focus on innovation, action, and results,” said Sarah Kahn, President and CEO of Housing Forward. “Our commitment to ensure no one is forced to sleep outside began long before Dallas was selected as a host city.”

The address concluded with Coalition leaders highlighting a Dallas County tax measure proposal that would scale this proven model to every corner of Dallas County. This was followed by a panel moderated by Collen McCain Nelson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and executive editor and vice president of The Dallas Morning News. Panelists included Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, Austin Street Center CEO
Daniel Roby, and Jennifer Erasime, executive director of the Meadows Institute, Dallas.

“We have to make sure our system has the right place and the right treatment for each individual,” said Jennifer Erasime, Executive Director of the Meadows Institute, Dallas. “Sometimes that might be out-patient, sometimes that’s in-patient. But we have to make sure that our system is equipped to receive individuals, provide the right treatment at the right time, and then help them exit back out into the community.”