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.

Lost in America - Join Us for a Must See Film

Lost in America Trailer

 

Every now and then, you come across a film so thoughtful, so compelling, so moving, that you become an evangelist for an issue. When my good friend, Chey Reynolds, Director of Development at our partner, City House, reached out to me about Lost in America, I had the feeling this might be one of those films, because she spoke so passionately about it. Then I saw it. Wow! I immediately texted Rebecca Cox, our Vice President, that she had to see it. I became an evangelist for it too! And, Rebecca had the same reaction. We both agreed with Chey, that it was vital that we bring this film to our community.  

It is our pleasure, therefore, City House and MDHA, to invite you to an exclusive fundraising and awareness event to see this phenomenal 97 minute documentary, that promises to take film festivals, this year, by storm, as well as inspire you to act on behalf of homeless youth.  

What: Lost in America

Who: Rotimi Rainwater, the film's director and producer, will be in attendance, and there will be post-screening meet and greet and photo opportunities. 

When: Wednesday, February 22, 2017, 7.30pm

Where: Angelika Film Center - Dallas, 5321 E. Mockingbird Ln., Dallas, TX 75206

Purchase tickets and read a full description at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lost-in-america-tickets-31497462759 (Your ticket price is a tax deductible donation, and proceeds will benefit homeless youth in Dallas and Collin Counties.) 

As Senator Patrick Leahy, a champion of homeless youth in Congress, says, "To make change, the public needs to know not just numbers, but faces and stories behind those numbers. 'Lost In America' is doing just that." This film is not for the faint of heart. It is real. It is raw. It inspires. And, YOU need to see it.  

See Me Now in Dallas and Collin Counties

This week being National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, there were two events focusing on teen homelessness. Yesterday, the MDHA Youth Task Force, along with Promise House and other partners held the Dallas See Me Now - Teens without Homes event. Today, the Collin County Homeless Coalition, along with City House and other partners held the Collin See Me Now - Teens without Homes event. Both events were tremendously informative, featuring expert panels, and the executive directors of Promise House, Dr. Harriet Boorhem, and City House, Teresa Keenan respectively. The most meaningful part of each event was hearing from teens served by both agencies.

The Dallas event featured a transgendered teen, and through that showcased something Keenan mentioned too, that some teens are forced out of their homes due to their sexual identity. The Collin event featured Colette Williams, of Traffick 911, who highlighted an issue touched upon at the Dallas event too, that teens experiencing homelessness are at a tremendous risk of being trafficked.

At both events speakers emphasized that at the end of the day, all of the important work we are all doing in the area of homelessness is no substitute for a meaningful affordable housing and anti-poverty policy.

Happily the media is covering these events, which hopefully will lead to more awareness. Check out, for instance, this KERA piece:
http://keranews.org/post/dallas-county-has-more-5000-homeless-students

"Hats" off to These Folks

MaryAnn Russ, DHA President
and CEO, and MDHA Board Member

Yesterday, I attended the 2014 HATS: Housing Authorities of Texas Symposium held by MDHA Corporate Champion, Strasburger & Price.
The sessions were very informative. It was fascinating to see how many areas of extremely specialized knowledge exist in the area of housing. It was a great opportunity to educate folks about our own specialized area of expertise.

The session led by MDHA's board member and President and CEO of the Dallas Housing Authority, MaryAnn Russ, was of particular interest. She spoke on "The Power of Public Housing Authorities: How to Address Homelessness in Your Community". As a reader of this blog you already know how instrumental DHA has been in alleviating homelessness in our community.

It was great to see MaryAnn educate folks from other housing authorities on how they can follow DHA’s example. Strasburger made a $100 donation in MaryAnn's honor too! (Stay tuned for another blog post soon with MaryAnn’s tips for housing authorities on how they can help those experiencing homelessness.)

It was also great to hear first-hand from one of the speakers, Matt Marchant, how he and fellow Strasburger attorney, Monica Velasquez, won a motion in court this last Friday, on behalf of City House, in the lawsuit brought against them by a Frisco based HOA. It was an honor to meet both of these folks, who are helping the “good guys.”

The keynote was given by Vanessa Sarria, Executive Director of the Austin-based Community Advancement Network (CAN). Her address, "Our Communities are Changing. Are We?" was not only eye-opening about upward mobility or lack thereof in our communities, but also included important calls for action in this area. Like MDHA, the focus of her organization, is to encourage and spearhead systemic solutions to community challenges.

Defending a Basic Right by Charles Gulley, Vice President of Programs, MDHA

It is unfortunate that time must be spent defending a basic right that belongs to all human beings in the free world, i.e. the right to live where one wishes to live. In Frisco, there are those who believe that developing restrictive covenants or deed restrictions provide protective immunity to practices of institutional classism, making the bold assumption that persons from lower socio-economic strata would lower property values.

This past week, the Dallas Morning News released the 2014 Point-in-Time Homeless Census Count that shows a trend of increasing homelessness among families, women with children, and youth.  Several studies over the past decade and a half have shown the Dallas area lacking affordable housing for low-income households. The lack of affordable housing, coupled with those who would restrict where persons could live, only exacerbates the problem of homelessness. Unless preventative measures are taken like those being exercised by City House, i.e. housing the homeless to improve persons lives, homeless numbers are bound to grow. If HOAs and other communities can deed restrict communities and deed restrict the use of those properties to keep certain groups out, where are people supposed to live? Where will families and young adults live who need to stabilize their living conditions to improve their lives?

The disregard of inalienable rights of human beings being subordinated to the maintenance of property values cast a dark shadow on the HOA and Frisco, leaving way to charges of societal prejudice and class discrimination. Fair housing laws must be invoked to protect the rights of those who only want a place to live. There is no evidence that City House’s action of moving into the Frisco neighborhood has negatively impacted any property values.

Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance stands in support of City House’s right to own and occupy a house in that Frisco neighborhood and any neighborhood of their choice. With increasing homelessness among certain groups and a short supply of affordable housing, restricting where people can live just to protect property values is, first and foremost, humanely wrong. Second, it is not good for the Dallas area if we want to stop homelessness and assist persons to become productive citizens. The legal action being taken by the HOA will only hurt the region’s image and the region’s attempt to overcome homelessness, poverty, and other associated societal problems.

How About You Pick on Someone Your Own Size?!

Remember when you were a kid, and a bully picked on a kid much younger than him? You probably said in an indignant voice, "Hey! How about you pick on someone your own size?" That is what I (David Gruber) want to say to a few of my fellow Frisco residents in this infuriating story from the Dallas Morning News about a homeowners association in Frisco suing our partner, City House: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/frisco/headlines/20140905-suit-seeks-to-block-homeless-youths-from-frisco-neighborhood.ece

One of the wonderful programs City House has is a housing programs for teens and young adults, experiencing homelessness. These single gender groups live together, learn valuable life skills, and learn or work in the community, all under the supervision of a trained adult, who lives with them. They have been running this program in Plano, with nary a negative comment, for years now.

They identified a need for this program in Frisco too, and have already put in a lot of time and money into opening such a home in Frisco for young women. Now, instead of moving the young women into the home, they must contend with a lawsuit from the homeowners association, where the home is located, who seek to block them from moving the young women in. Fortunately, MDHA Corporate Champion, Strasburger & Price, has stepped up to the plate, and is representing them. We, at MDHA, wish City House and Strasburger & Price the best of luck in defeating this lawsuit.