Does it Matter Where People Experiencing Homelessness in Dallas Come From?

Our mission statement at MDHA is very specifically worded: The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) leads 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. That language is directly derived from the 2009 Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, and Opening Doors, the national strategic plan to end homelessness, established under the Act.

 

Perhaps one of the most important words in our mission statement is “system”. Housing is the only solution that can end homelessness. Effectively and efficiently delivering any resource, especially a scarce one, like housing for those experiencing homelessness, cannot be done without a well-oiled delivery system.
 
That is why systems thinking is so central to what we do. I was, personally, first introduced to systems thinking, when I was studying for my Texas school principal certification. Perhaps that is why I really like this concise straightforward explanation from the Waters Foundation: “Systems thinking utilizes habits, tools and concepts to develop an understanding of the interdependent structures of dynamic systems. When individuals have a better understanding of systems, they are better able to identify the leverage points that lead to desired outcomes.”
 
One of my favorite aspects of systems thinking is that it, a la Stephen Covey, begins with the end in mind. It first asks what the desired outcomes or outputs are. Once you have figured that out, it backs up, and asks what inputs are needed to deliver those outputs. Any suggested input, however attractive, must be rejected, if it does not lead to the desired output. Covey rightly points out that one must be ruthless in doing this, because, “If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster.”


Stephen Covey

Courtesy of www.stephencovey.com

Recently, Cindy J. Crain, MDHA’s President and CEO addressed a question in a way that illustrates this idea very well. The question was, “Where do people experiencing homelessness in Dallas come from?” There is an honest misconception in many communities that those experiencing homelessness are not from that community. In fact, when this was measured in Dallas homeless counts, the numbers indicated that the vast majority of our homeless friends became homeless in Dallas. This number seems to be in line with other locales’ past homeless counts too.
 
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) actually conducted a long-term study on this very issue. Their findings not only back up what we knew already, but answer a question communities seldom wonder about: How many natives of our community are experiencing homelessness elsewhere? They arrived at this not surprising result: “In-migration roughly balanced out-migration. For most (communities) there was a small net impact of migration on homeless population size. In (communities) with larger numbers of homeless, the net impact of migration attenuated towards zero (emphasis mine-DSG).”

Now, Crain did mention this misconception and the facts on the ground in passing, but she did not dwell on them. Instead she explained that there is very little utility in answering this question on a macro level. The answer would not and should not cause MDHA and its partners to do anything differently in the effort to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring in our community. There are data points that are very important on the macro level, such as age, gender identity, veteran status, race and more, because they have utility in the systems thinking frame. This data point, on the other hand, simply does not, which is probably why the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development removed it from its guidelines regarding annual homeless counts.

What utility do these other data points have? Let’s take an issue we just blogged about, as an example, the overrepresentation of African Americans in the homeless population. The current output is that 60-70% of those experiencing homelessness in Dallas County are African American. Ideally, one would hope their percentage would roughly equal their percentage in Dallas County’s population at large, about 13%. So, what inputs do we need to change on the system level to get that desired output, is a very important question, which we seek to address.

Crain did explain that on the micro or individual level, the question of where the person comes from is tremendously important, and is a routine part of best practice case management. Why? Because, as we point out in our playbook (pg. 8), the first step in engaging an individual person seeking services in the homeless response system should be diversion. One of the easiest ways to divert, is to help the person reunite with family, if possible. This is true regardless of where the person is from. A great example of this is our story from about a year and a half ago, Solomon’s Ticket out of Homelessness. An incredible example of this, is the story of Gershon Campbell, who with the help of Austin Street Center returned to his home 5,600(!) miles away.

Gershon Campbell

(Courtesy of KHOU)

Once again, this goes back to systems thinking. Imagine, you are a case manager, and you are approached by an individual person experiencing homelessness. The desired output is that they be housed. Can their origin be a useful input? You don’t know yet, because you need to know more about them. If they are from Dallas, for instance, their family moved away to Rhode Island, has invited the individual to join them, and the individual so desires, then the fact that the individual is from Dallas is not a useful input at all. It would be a dereliction of duty to insist the person stay homeless in Dallas, and not join family and be housed in Rhode Island!

Conversely, in Leonard’s case, which we wrote about exactly a year ago, even though he had no intention of returning to Florida, where he was from, this data point was a very relevant input. Why? Because, Leonard wanted to self-resolve his homelessness. His plan was to return to his career as a truck driver, which would enable him to obtain housing, the desired output of our system. He had a Commercial Driver's License or CDL, but alas it was from Florida, not from Texas. The necessary additional input was to transfer the license from Florida to Texas, with the help of Austin Street Center and MDHA.

In summary, does it matter where people experiencing homelessness in Dallas come from? On the macro level, because it does not contribute to our desired output, housing, not really. (Parenthetically, the vast majority are from here, anyway, and in-migration vs. out-migration attenuate to zero.) On the micro level, when helping individuals experiencing homelessness, it depends on the client, so one should always ask. The answer should be factored as an input into the system, but only if it can help our desired output, the housing of that individual.