Open Letter to the Mayor and City Manager of the City of Dallas

Click here to read:

• An Open Letter to the Mayor and City Manager of the City of Dallas, sent yesterday to Messrs. Rawlings and Broadnax, by the officers of the board of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance. (You may scroll down to read this too.)
• The CEO Response to the City of Dallas Audit of Homeless Response System Effectiveness. (This was included in the last post on the blog. We have included it here, as it is referenced by the officers, and was included as an enclosure, with their letter.)

Once again, for future reference, both are posted on our Key Documents page, on the MDHA website. 

 

Important News: CEO Response to the City of Dallas Audit of Homeless Response System Effectiveness

Please click here to read the CEO Response to the City of Dallas Audit of Homeless Response System Effectiveness, from our President and CEO, Cindy J. Crain. For future reference, it has been posted on the Key Documents page on the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) website. Please feel free to share with your friends online and offline. This is important news!

A Vision to End the Experience of Homelessness in the Greater Dallas Area - Response to City of Dallas Audit of Homeless Response System Effectiveness

The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) is committed to leading the development of an effective homeless response system that will make the experience of homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties rare, brief, and non-recurring. We strongly believe that a coordinated approach, across private, public and nonprofit sectors, is critical to addressing this important social issue. Therefore, we are encouraged that the City of Dallas is taking an active role in addressing our homeless response system.

MDHA, and the Continuum of Care, have embarked on a novel approach to addressing the experience of homelessness and enable transparent communications across a variety of agencies. In November of 2015, the MDHA Board of Directors, including representation from the City of Dallas and The Bridge, voted unanimously in an open forum to migrate to a ground-breaking, modern technology -- one that would go above and beyond traditional HMIS systems to holistically address barriers to care for vulnerable populations.

Launching an innovative information solution such as this is no easy task. “We chose to take this new HMIS implementation approach provided by the PIECES Tech IRIS information solution with long-term objectives in mind: Coordinating a data share across 38 homeless service providers, with the unique added value of building connections and resources with the broader Dallas area community based organizations outside the homeless system of care. We have nearly completed this transition.” said Cindy Crain, MDHA President and CEO.

In the past six months of being live on the new HMIS system, we have seen many successes, including full participation from the Veterans Affairs homeless programs and more complete reporting by shelters. In September of 2014, there was no documentation of individuals served by emergency shelters within the HMIS in our Annual Homeless Assessment Report submitted to HUD. By September of 2017, 57% of individuals served in shelters were documented within the new HMIS system. Tracking of this information allows us to better understand and serve persons experiencing homelessness.

“We embrace our service-focused relationship with all of our partner agencies and appreciate how forthcoming they have been in supporting this process, sharing their data and seeking even more improvements to the HMIS.” said Crain. “We are removing silos between homeless providers, connecting them to a larger network of resources which is enabling more robust reporting providing transparent accountability of our performance, identifying service gaps, and innovating future solutions to help the most vulnerable residents in the greater Dallas area.”

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week and the Annual Homeless Count

We are a proud partner in National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, taking place this year November 11-19, 2017. This is a chance to educate our community, draw attention to the problem of homelessness, and recruit new volunteers and supporters for local anti-poverty agencies.
 
During that week, we will launch recruitment for the annual Point-in-Time Homeless Count, which will be on the night of January 25, 2018. Stay tuned, since we will need 1,500(!) volunteers. That means you!   

As part of the City of Dallas' annual It's My Park on Nov 4, 2017, the Elmwood Neighborhood Association is endeavoring to bring awareness to the issue of homelessness. The event starts at 9am at the park on Elmwood between Mountain Creek Lake and Elmwood/Rugged. For more info and/or to volunteer, contact Janet Smith, 214-543-5847, jsmith@aidsdallas.org.
 
Bedstart deliver beds and furnishings to households coming out of crisis. They meet every Saturday morning at 7:45am and are typically done noon. They would love to have new volunteers join the effort. The Bedstart shed is located in the overflow parking lot directly across the street from Custer Road UMC, 6601 Custer Road, Plano, TX, 75023. For more info, contact Doug Nickols, director@bedstart.org.
 
The annual Promise House Sleep Out - A Night Under the Stars is a longstanding and excellent event. This year, it will be held the night of November 9, 2017. Click through for more details.
 
City House will be holding a donation drive on November 11, 2017. Check their Facebook page for details.
 
The City of Dallas Office of Homeless Solutions is holding a Welcome Basket Drive for folks moving into housing. They will be collecting items to build the baskets, November 8-December 8, 2017. Contact Mariah Cross, mariah.cross@dallascityhall.com, for more details.

A Hard, Ongoing and Critical Conversation

On June 28, 2017 for the latest installment of our Hard Conversations series, MDHA, CitySquare, and the Dallas Public Library presented a book synopsis of Toxic Inequality: How America's Wealth Gap Destroys Mobility, Deepens the Racial Divide, and Threatens Our Future. 

The book synopsis was led by Randy Mayeux, renowned scholar and longtime book reviewer at CitySquare's Urban Engagement Book Club. Our good friends, Larry James and Rev. Dr. Michael Waters, joined Randy for the Q&A part of this exciting event, and expounded on how the lessons of Toxic Inequality can be applied to race, poverty and homelessness in Dallas.

This Hard Conversation was part of our ongoing effort to address Racism and Homelessness in Dallas, as part of our SPARC Dallas program, in partnership with the Center for Social Innovation, and with the support of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas’ Unite Dallas Relief Fund.

The importance of this effort was underlined by the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ invitation to Jeff Olivet and Marc Dones, of the Center for Social Innovation, to speak about this program, at the plenary on the second day of its recent annual conference, following an address by the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson.

Jeff and Marc also led a standing room only session at the conference, where they delved into the program in depth, and held a meeting, where we got to meet with those running the program in other cities. We have been meeting, in an online virtual learning community for a few months now, but this was the first chance we had to meet in person.

Out of recognition of the importance of combating Racism and Homelessness, the seventh goal of our CoC Strategic Work Plan is devoted to this. We look forward to continuing to make progress on this front. 

Jonathan Reconnects, with a Little Help from the MDHA Flex Fund

Jonathan* has not had what most would consider an easy life. His disability does not allow him to work. He had even experienced homelessness. That said, with the help of a City of Dallas program, Jonathan had made significant progress. He had gotten into an apartment with a rental subsidy, and had a steady though fixed income from SSI (Supplemental Security Income). He no longer needed to worry about experiencing homelessness. Or, so he thought…

The problem is that $733 a month, which is what SSI paid in 2016, does not always go far enough. Late last year, Jonathan fell behind on his electric bill, and on December 15th, his electricity was shut off. That night the temperature dropped to 36, and a few nights later it was down to 17 degrees!  

Jonathan’s case manager, Mirka, was able to help him make an appointment with Dallas County to apply for utility assistance, but they could not see him before the 27th. On top of that, his electric provider was not registered with Dallas County, so it would take another seven days following that appointment, before his electricity could be turned back on.

Jonathan was at wit’s end. He could not refrigerate his food, he could not cook, and he could not heat his apartment. What really worried him, though, was that his lease required that his apartment be connected to utilities, so he was now in violation of his lease. He was liable to find himself, not only without electricity, but without a place to live altogether.

Put yourself in Jonathan’s shoes at that moment. Imagine what that feels like, to be without electricity, mere days before Christmas, worried that you might be evicted. Now imagine that all of this is happening to you because of $53.53, which is approximately what many of us middle class folk might spend on a casual dinner with drinks, for two.

Fortunately, Mirka knew where to turn for help, the MDHA Flex Fund. The Flex Fund was designed by MDHA, with the help of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, to pay for minor but impactful expenditures that impede clients from (making progress in) ending their homelessness. In this case, it would work in a similar, if not identical, fashion. The Flex Fund could pay the electric bill, and not only make Jonathan’s home habitable again, but also shield him from being evicted and returning to homelessness, due to the violation of his lease.

Mirka completed the one page Flex Fund request form. It asks for the client’s information, the solution needed, including cost and vendor, articulation of how this solution will help the client end his or her homelessness, and an explanation of why other resources cannot provide it. (This prevents service duplication, and waste of funds.) She then emailed the form, with documentation from the electric provider, to MDHA.

Shavon Moore, MDHA’s Continuum of Care Resource Manager, received the request and quickly approved it. She suggested to Mirka, however, that they “top off” Jonathan’s account with another $50, so he would not be disconnected again before his utility assistance could be approved by Dallas County. She then went online to the electric provider’s website, and paid $103.53.

Within two hours, Jonathan’s electricity was reconnected, the lights were on, his refrigerator was humming again, and the apartment was feeling nice and toasty. Jonathan was finally able to rest easy, and not worry about becoming homeless again. This Christmas would be full of light and warmth, after all…

* Client’s name has been changed to protect his privacy. 

Faith, Hope and Home II

Rev. Jonathan Grace, CitySquare
leading an opening prayer

On March 30, 2017, we held our second Faith Hope and Home event, in Austin Street Center's beautiful chapel. The evening was led by our very own Rebecca Cox. It featured: Josh Cogan of Outlast Youth, Teresa Keenan of Incarnation House, Rev. Heather Mustain, of Wilshire Baptist Church, Leah Parker, of St. Paul United Methodist Church, and Mark Pierce, of the Dallas Independent School District.

Mark Pierce, DISD

Mark, Teresa, and Josh talked about the evolution of school and out of school time drop in centers, how helpful they have been to youth, and the need for more such centers. Rev. Heather and Leah shared how their congregations participate in the Room in the Inn program. This program allows congregations to host pre-screened persons experiencing homelessness in their house of worship for a night, break bread with them, practice fellowship, and help them become part of the community. They encouraged other congregations to follow in their footsteps. A vigorous and informative Q&A session followed. Charletra Sharp, of the City of Dallas, closed out the evening, inviting those who wanted to roll up their sleeves and continue this work on the systems level, to join the MDHA CoC General Assembly's new Faith Collaborations Committee.

 

Is your congregation ready to engage in work that not only helps the homeless, but will really move the needle on ending homelessness? Contact us or any of the above speakers, and we will hook you up! (If you don't know how to contact one of them, we can help with that too.)

The MDHA Flex Fund - A Powerful Tool for Unsung Heroes Ending Homelessness

When our family moved into an apartment in 2007, the apartment complex was running a special, and so we did not have to pay a deposit or a move-in fee. That meant that we saved the whopping sum of $69! For us, and likely for most of the people reading this, paying those $69 would not have been an issue, much less a deal breaker. Not paying it was just a nice perk. Not so for many of our homeless neighbors.


Take Kisha*, a young single mother, with two boys, aged two and three, who was staying at Dallas Life. With the help of her City of Dallas case manager, Mirka, she found an apartment, and enrolled in a program, that would pay her rent and even her deposit. The apartment complex required two types of fees, before she could move in, an administrative fee and an application fee, totaling $95. Now, you might assume that if the City of Dallas is paying for her rent and her deposit, which are much greater sums, they could pay these fees for her. Not so. The rules of the grant that funds the City of Dallas program, does not allow it to pay these types of fees. Kisha would have been happy to pay the $95 herself, but her only income, child support, had not arrived on time. So, Kisha and her boys were stuck.

Marsha, of Family Gateway, an Unsung Hero

Or take Sarah and her daughter Carol, who were staying at Family Gateway. With the help of Marsha, their case manager, Sarah had obtained a housing voucher, and had found an apartment complex that would take it. Sarah was excited to have a place to call home, and it would be much easier to care for Carol, who has a disability, in an apartment of their own. However, the apartment complex required payment of an administrative fee of $149, before they could move in. With their only income being inconsistent child support, and SSI (Supplemental Security Income), there was no way they could afford this. Sarah and Carol too were stuck.

Or take Laura, an Austin Street Center guest. Working with her case manager, Niki, she too had received a voucher and found an apartment. Unlike Kisha or Sarah, Laura had only herself to worry about. Therefore, with her SSI and Social Security benefits, though it would be “tight”, she would be able to pay her portion of the rent and even her application fee. However, the apartment complex needed her to put down a $200 deposit, and that she could not afford. I think you can see the pattern here already. Laura too, you guessed it, was stuck.

Prior to September 2015, Kisha and her boys’ story, Sarah and Carol’s story and Laura’s story, would all have ended there. They would have been stuck, and unable to move on. They would have remained homeless because of $95, $149, and $200, respectively. And these three cases are just examples of countless others.

So, what happened in September 2015? With the help of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, MDHA launched the MDHA Flex Fund. It was designed as a fund of last resort, to pay for minor, but impactful expenditures, that can help folks, just like Kisha, Sarah and Laura, end their homelessness.

Niki, of Austin Street Center, an Unsung Hero

All Mirka, Marsha and Niki had to do was fill out a simple one page form. On the form, they each stated the need of the client, how fulfilling it would help that client end her homelessness, and why there was no other resource to pay for it. They and their supervisors signed the forms, and along with documentation to back them up, they each emailed their forms to Shavon, at MDHA.

Now, we have all filled out forms for various things in life, only to then have to wait, and wait and wait. That is not how Shavon operates. In each case, she carefully reviews each form, and if everything is in order she quickly approves the request. She then has Wayne, our CFO, cut a check to the vendor (in these cases the apartment complex), and notifies the case manager that the check is ready. The case manager swings by MDHA to pick the check up, and delivers it to the apartment complex. This whole process usually takes only 24-48 hours.

One of the most attractive aspects of the program is how it empowers the unsung heroes of our homeless response system, case managers. It gives them a powerful and readily accessible tool, with which they can end a client’s homelessness quickly and permanently. Since September 2015, using this tool, case managers like Mirka, Marsha and Niki have helped hundreds of clients, just like Kisha, Sarah and Laura, rebuild their lives. And you really can’t put a price on that…  

*All client names have been changed to protect their privacy.

Housing and Shelter Targets Exceeded as Haskell Encampment Closes; Street Outreach and Case Management Continues

Haskell Encampment, Dallas, Texas – Yesterday, October 24, 2016, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) and the Street Outreach Initiative, closed out an intensive week of case management and engagement, reviewing options with the remaining thirty-seven individuals, living at the Haskell Encampment, who had not moved yet. The encampment area located between S. Hill and Haskell Avenues under I-30 is in the process of being formally closed today, October 25, 2016.                                          


Street Outreach Initiative

Team Mobile Office

The site was slated for closure after a joint meeting with City Officials on September 29, 2016, when MDHA and collaborative partners agreed that the Street Outreach Initiative could reasonably house half of the then population of eighty-two encampment residents. The closure guidelines were developed by MDHA in consultation with the City of Dallas, following the clearing of Tent City in April-May of this year. As of yesterday, 45 persons have been placed, just above the goal of 41. 


Over the course of the last few weeks, in fact, MDHA and its partners from the City of Dallas, CitySquare, Nexus Recovery Center, Turtle Creek Recovery Center, The Bridge, Austin Street Center, the Salvation Army and Metrocare Services, were able to find and place forty-five residents into shelter, treatment, rapid rehousing, permanent private housing, and group homes or help them reunite with their families.



“Consistent and persistent case management, patiently undertaken by seasoned professionals, trained in trauma-informed care,  and armed with a toolbox of evidence-based solutions, is the only way we can end unsheltered homelessness in Dallas,” said Cindy Crain, President and CEO of MDHA. “The success of this effort could not be accomplished without strategic interagency collaboration, which has been developing over the course of 2016 into a true crisis response system, where we all work together, breaking down silos, and securing the best possible outcome for every individual,” she added.   

Yesterday, as case managers and volunteers helped the remaining residents pack up, they were joined by five formerly unsheltered homeless from prior tent encampment closures who are now permanently housed.

Crain reflected, “Their presence gave residents a glimpse of hope and possibility of the results of accepting shelter, housing, treatment and services. Seeing is believing, and is critical to motivating and working through the ever present trauma enforced fear and uncertainty of accepting assistance. The Street Outreach team gets better every day at the hard work that they do.”

MDHA and its partners will continue to work with these and other unsheltered individuals to get as many of them as possible off the streets and into shelter and housing. The overall impact of the successful, peaceful and housing-oriented closing of three encampments since the beginning of May 2016, will not be fully known before the annual Point-in-Time Homeless Count, which will be led by MDHA on the night of Thursday, January 26, 2017.

In the last Count, conducted on the night of Thursday, January 21, 2016, MDHA counted 539 unsheltered homeless individuals in Dallas. In order to conduct a full and accurate count of the unsheltered homeless, this coming January, MDHA will need 1,000 volunteers, registered as teams of 3-5 persons. Registration will open mid-November. Those wishing to receive notification of such, should text keyword MDHA to 22828 to join MDHA’s mailing list.