Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance President and CEO Delivers Annual State of the Homeless Address

Dallas, Texas – On Wednesday, March 21, 2018, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) held its fourth annual State of the Homeless Address, at Goodwill Industries of Dallas. The Address was delivered by MDHA President and CEO, Cindy J. Crain. It covered the results of January’s annual homeless count, as well as the progress of Dallas’ homeless response system, in making homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring.

Ms. Crain’s PowerPoint Presentation may be downloaded from the MDHA website. The full address, including the question and answer period that followed it, will be posted to MDHA’s YouTube channel in the next few days. A bullet point summary of the address follows:

• Homeless Count Results:

-          Overall homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, clocking in at 4,140 individuals, rose by 9%, when compared to 2017.

-          Unsheltered homelessness, clocking in at 1,341 individuals, rose by 23% during the same time period.

-          The number of homeless veterans dropped from 356 individuals or 9.5% of the homeless population to 331 individuals or 8% of the homeless population.

-          The number of chronically homeless individuals (those homeless for a year or more, with a documented disability) continued to drop, for a second year now, clocking in at 424 individuals, or 21% fewer than in 2017.

-          The rise in the overall numbers and specifically the unsheltered numbers is in line with national trends across urban centers in the United States. It is attributable to the lack of affordable housing.

• MDHA’s Housing Priority List, which lies at the core of the homeless response system, is making a huge difference in Dallas. In an effective homeless response system, no placements are made in any program without objectively assessing each person, prioritizing them for service, based on the level of their vulnerability and specific needs, and placing each person on a unified Housing Priority List. Placements in housing are made only from that list, based on priority status and specific needs. As of mid-March 2018, there are about 790 individuals on the Housing Priority list, ready to be housed. 209 of these individuals are chronically homeless, which means that about half of the chronically homeless population is ready to be housed. Over the course of the last 12 months, 246 individuals have been housed from the Housing Priority List.

• MDHA is now able to analyze a wealth of data regarding health outcomes of individuals experiencing homelessness, through its new Homeless Management Information System, which is part of Pieces Iris. As Politico Magazine wrote in December 2017, Pieces Iris is already, “having a powerful impact on overwhelmed homeless organizations in Dallas…” The data collected through Iris is already making it easier to make not just the moral case, but the business case for ending individuals’ homelessness quickly and permanently. 

• Whatever measure we look at, we see a marked overrepresentation of African Americans in the homeless population. The homeless count showed that 60% of the unsheltered homeless are African Americans, and analysis of data from the Homeless Management Information System in the years 2011-2016, showed an even higher number - 66.7%. Since late 2016, with the support of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Unite Dallas Relief Fund, MDHA has been partnering with five other cities, towards establishing more racial equity in homeless services, through SPARC (Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities), a new research and action program from the Center for Social Innovation (C4).

• MDHA is working with its partners, on a number of simultaneous projects, from a 90-day Emergency Shelter Housing Challenge through a separate State of Homeless Youth event in April to creating a detailed “My Housing Plan” framework for as many individuals as possible, to help them make progress in ending their homelessness, and eventually become housed.

• Next week, March 26-28, 2018 MDHA is convening a Homeless Response System Leadership and Strategic Planning Retreat, with about 65 local leaders and 10 national experts in the homelessness arena. The retreat will be facilitated by pioneering world expert, Dr. Iain De Jong, and is designed to usher in a more strategic community response to homelessness. Participating leaders will commit to two days of intense action-oriented interactive hard work, focusing on the critical nature of collective impact, and how an effective system of care can bring about an end to homelessness in our community. The ultimate goal will be to produce a Homeless Response System Consolidated Strategic Plan, through which all stakeholders can make a real impact in the fight against homelessness.

Ms. Crain ended her address, by emphasizing that the primary driver of homelessness is still extreme poverty, i.e. the lack of sufficient household income to meet the cost of housing. Demand for safe, affordable and accessible housing continues to dramatically outpace supply. Metropolitan Dallas and urban centers in America, in general, must address this problem by building more safe, affordable, accessible housing, as well as build up household incomes. That is the only way to end the modern homelessness crisis, which has afflicted the United States for more than four decades.

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. 

Watch Hard Conversations: Toxic Inequality

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.

Bummed that you missed it? Fret not! Our good friends at Two Hats Publishing have hooked you up! Click here or on the image above, and get ready to be blown away! But, first, download Randy's handout here: Toxic Inequality - Randy Mayeux Synopsis - Handout

MDHA’s Homeless Response System - Helping Real People

We never forget that homelessness is about real people. Here are just a few glimpses of how we help real people whom we encounter through our work:

A photo of one of our homeless friends,

taken by award winning, Fort Worth based photographer, B.J. Lacasse,

shared with our friend’s permission

• Dallas Morning News - Robert Wilonsky: Once a year, Dallas' homeless count reminds us this is bigger than any of us can fathom - or bear - http://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2017/01/27/year-dallas-homeless-count-reminds-us-bigger-us-can-fathom-bear
• KERA – Stephanie Kuo: How Dallas' History Paved The Way For A Disproportionately Black Homeless Population - http://keranews.org/post/how-dallas-history-paved-way-disproportionately-black-homeless-population
• Dallas Morning News - Robert Wilonsky: One of Dallas' best homelessness solutions is staring the city in the face, begging for help - http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/01/12/one-dallas-best-homelessness-solutions-staring-city-face-begging-help
• Dallas Morning News – Cindy J. Crain: So much from 1843's 'A Christmas Carol' rings true about poverty and greed in Dallas today - http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2016/12/21/much-1843s-christmas-carol-rings-true-poverty-greed-2016-dallas
• MDHA Blog – David S. Gruber: The MDHA Flex Fund - A Powerful Tool for Unsung Heroes Ending Homelessness - http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-mdha-flex-fund-powerful-tool-for.html
• KERA – Stephanie Kuo: Tent City Closes, But Homeless Outreach Workers Say Their Work Is Not Done - http://keranews.org/post/tent-city-closes-homeless-outreach-workers-say-their-work-not-done
• Dallas Morning News – Tasha Tsiaperas: Dallas' Tent City homeless camp finally folds - http://www.dallasnews.com/news/news/2016/05/03/final-eviction-day-arrives-for-handful-of-homeless-still-at-tent-city
• KERA – Courtney Collins: Losing An Apartment Because You Can’t Pay The $45 Application Fee - http://keranews.org/post/losing-apartment-because-you-cant-pay-45-application-fee 

Interested in helping us help real people? Go to: What Can You Do to Help? - http://www.mdhadallas.org/what-can-you-do-to-help-2/

What Does NOT Cause Homelessness? (Oh, and What DOES?)

At the meeting held by Council Members Gates, Kleinman and McGough earlier this month, Cindy J. Crain, our President and CEO, touched upon what does not cause homelessness[1]. This is an extremely important point to elaborate on, as it is frequently misunderstood. The “noise” created by this misunderstanding takes up much “bandwidth”, that could and should go into what does cause homelessness. After all, even the sharpest archer will find it hard to hit a target, if she can’t even see it.

So, what does not cause homelessness? 

• It is NOT poverty. Of the 435,000 people living in poverty in Dallas County, only a few thousand become homeless every year.
• It is NOT lack of affordable housing. In the United States 11.8 million renter households are severely cost-burdened, i.e. pay more than 50% of their income on housing. Only about 565,000 persons are homeless.
• It is NOT addiction or substance abuse. Reliable studies show that 40 million Americans are addicts, and another 80 million are risky users. We do not have 120 million Americans who are or are at risk of becoming homeless. 
• It is NOT mental illness. 44 million Americans experience mental illness every year. We do not have 44 million Americans who are or are at risk of becoming homeless. 
• It is NOT lack of religion or faith. Denmark, for instance, has extremely low levels of religious belief. However, the levels of poverty and want in Denmark are markedly lower than in the United States. 

Now, you may believe, nay there is evidence, that poverty is bad for society, that there is not enough affordable housing, that substance abuse causes problems, that folks with mental illness need help, and that faith has positive influences in people's lives. True, but that still does not negate the truth of each of the bullet points above. 

So, what does cause homelessness?

Most of us will never become homeless because of the fact that we can and would lean on our network of social connections. Our families, friends and social groups would be there for us to call on. The facts are that homelessness occurs when this network of social connections breaks down, and can no longer be activated. 

 

The way we solve this problem is to put in place a homeless response system, that steps into the gap created by that breakdown, and ideally helps rebuild it too. That is why the focus of Opening Doors, the national strategic plan to end homelessness, is on developing in every community an effective and unified homeless response system. That is the only thing that will make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring.

---

[1] Cindy’s remarks and this piece draw upon ideas we have learned from our good friend, Dr. Iain De Jong.

My Address at the East Plano Islamic Center Eid Celebration

 בִּגְדֵיכֶ֔ם וְאַל לְבַבְכֶם֙ וְקִרְע֤וּ

 Rend your hearts, not your garments.

 

My name is David Gruber. I am a rabbi, here in Collin County. In this capacity, I work primarily with interfaith couples and officiate their weddings. I also serve as the Development and Communications Director for the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA). The mission of MDHA is to lead 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.

I wanted to sincerely thank you for the honor of speaking here tonight. Special thanks to my friend, Ekram Haque, for inviting me.

Fasting is easy. Let me repeat that, fasting is easy. Now, at this moment you might be saying to yourself, justifiably, "What does this guy know? HE never observed Ramadan!"

And, of course, you are right. So allow me to clarify. Fasting alone is RELATIVELY easy. "Relative to what," you might ask. Relative to true change, relative to true spiritual growth.

This was an idea that Maimonides, the great rabbi and philosopher, who also served as a physician in the court of Salah a-Din, emphasizes, drawing on the works of Aristotle. He explains that the most difficult things to change are not your volitional actions, but your behavioral traits and characteristics, that lead to many of your actions. Modern science backs this up, as scientists explain that 40% of what we do in our day to day lives is pretty much automatic. We don't think; we just do. And changing in this area of our lives, innate behaviors and well established habits, is so hard, because it actually requires rewiring of neuron pathways in our brains.

However, difficult does not mean impossible, and difficult certainly does not mean, "don't have to". If Ramadan teaches us anything, it teaches us that! And so, we must embark on a journey of change and growth that is not easy. We must fix faulty innate behaviors and bad well established habits. In short, in the words of the prophet Joel, we must rend our hearts, not our clothes. And as the great Quaker thinker, Parker Palmer, said, you should not be afraid to let your heart break, because once it breaks, your heart becomes open. You understand that spiritual growth is not something that happens in isolation in your heart, but by becoming a better person to others through your now open heart.

When we allow our heart to look out on the world, and take the world in, our heart cannot but soften, but also be ashamed and grievous. Here are some random facts that relate to poverty and homelessness, issues I work on everyday. We live in Collin County, one of the wealthiest counties in the country. Just south of us in Dallas County, though, 20% of the population lives below the poverty line. That is 435,000 people. Just let that sink in. In Dallas and Collin Counties we count the homeless once a year. We found 3,810 homeless individuals, and we know that is not everyone. Almost 4,000 people! Here in Plano last year, a homeless veteran received a housing voucher, a document that says that Uncle Sam will pay the landlord who rents him an apartment, anywhere within a 50 mile radius. Do you know how many apartment complexes he had to go to before he found a landlord willing to rent to him? 71. You heard correctly, 71.

What the prophet Joel, what Parker Palmer, what Maimonides, what the practice of Ramadan all call on us to do is to not accept this. They say to me, David, open your heart, you can do better! Do not accept the status quo. They call on our society, open your hearts, do not accept the way things are! You can do better. The richest country on the face of this earth can alleviate poverty, end homelessness, and make sure that everyone enjoys the bounties it has to offer. The call is out, the message is clear. Let us hope we heed this call and listen to this message. If we do, Inshallah, our community will be a better place.

We Can't Have Our Cake and Eat It Too

Last night I attended a fascinating event put on by a few wonderful organizations here in Dallas, led by United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, around "The Raising of America - Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation". It included a screening of excerpts of this thought provoking series, and a panel discussion of experts.


Susan Hoff, Chief Strategy Officer of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas

(Photo Courtesy of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas)

One of the concepts they discussed is the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) score. In short, more adverse childhood experiences, the higher the score. Research shows that the higher the score, the more likely it is that the individual will suffer adverse long term effects across all areas of life. This has to do mainly with the influence of stressors such as poverty, food insecurity, housing instability on the development of the brain of the child. It is no surprise that the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Robert Block, has stated, "Adverse childhood experiences are the single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today."

Another important idea discussed is that social and economic stressors influence children on the epigenetic or genetic expression level. This happens already in utero, and once again has the potential to effect children for years to come. Give children a positive environment to grow up in - get good epigenetic results. Give children a negative environment to grow up in - get bad epigenetic results.

We, in America, contend that everyone should be treated equally. We like to believe that we can and should expect everyone to thrive, and that if one does not, it is their fault. So, it does not matter where you grow up. You should be able pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

It should not matter that we, as a country, have stopped investing in the working poor. It should not matter that we have put in place policies that have eroded the middle class. It should not matter that we have condemned 25% of American children to grow up in poverty, lacking the necessities they need to thrive.

Right, because that makes sense... We should definitely be able to have our cake, not invest in what we need to, and eat it too, expect the results that would come about had we invested in what we needed too. Right?

Well, no, wrong. This does not make sense, and never really made sense. Now, science shows how little sense this actually makes. The question, as Susan Hoff, United Way Chief Strategy Officer, posed it last night, is: Do we have the will to do what we KNOW we need to do? Or will we continue, as we talked about in the last blog post, to waste the vast human potential that we have in this great city, and across our nation?

Only time will tell.

Duh!

There are complicated areas, where research ends up contradicting and flying in the face of common sense. The Freakonomics books, podcasts etc. are great examples of this. This always makes news too, since man bites dog is news, while dog bites man is not.

Then there is the issue of homelessness. I am surely not the first one to observe that though research is important, it ends up backing up common sense, almost always, so much so, that it leaves you saying to yourself and others, “Duh!” Homelessness is a result of poverty? Duh! Kids that grow up homeless are more likely to be homeless as adults. Really?! We can end homelessness by (wait for it…) housing people. Who’d have thunk it?!

The importance of research in the area of homelessness is not to tell us something we don’t know. It is to remind of what we do know, prod us to stop flogging dead horses, and get on with delivering solutions that really work. Daniel Patrick Moynihan may have said that you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own set of facts, but we all know that today that seldom holds true. We need to be reminded of what the data indicates, so can get on with finishing the job of ending homelessness, instead of just managing it.

This study reported last week by the Seattle Times’ Caitlin Moran is a perfect example of this. The title is clearly in the dog bites man category, “Study finds housing vouchers best way to keep kids in same school.” The subtitle won’t make you fall off your seat either, “Students who change schools are likely to fall behind academically, and helping families get stable housing can prevent that.”

In the introduction to the study itself Katherine M. O’Regan, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development & Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, says, “This report documents outcomes at 18 months, presenting striking evidence of the power of offering a permanent subsidy to a homeless family. Families who were offered a housing voucher experienced significant reductions in subsequent homelessness, mobility, child separations, adult psychological distress, experiences of intimate partner violence, school mobility among children, and food insecurity at 18 months. Moreover, the benefits of the voucher intervention were achieved at a comparable cost to rapid re-housing and emergency shelter and at a lower cost than transitional housing.”

To summarize the study, one word, “Duh!”

Lack of Political Will

 

Dr. Joseph Stiglitz

This episode of the Diane Rehm Show from earlier this week is sobering: http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-04-20/joseph-stiglitz-the-great-divide. Her guest, Nobel Prize winning economist, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, talks about his new book, The Great Divide. Stiglitz clarifies what we all need to keep reminding ourselves: most of our economic problems, from unemployment to poverty to income inequality are due to a lack of political will. The “market” is not the reason we have these problems; they are the result of failed economic policies. The way out of this morass is to adopt new policies, rather than continuing to flog a dead horse. Unfortunately, we seem to lack the political will to do what it takes.

Interfaith Seder Focusing on Poverty

Jews, Christians and Muslims
sitting around one table to discuss poverty

Monday night, MDHA President and CEO, Cindy J. Crain, and I had the great pleasure of attending the Jewish Community Relations Council 3rd Annual Interfaith Seder at Congregation Anshai Torah in Plano. The theme this year was "Confronting Poverty". The purpose of this inspiring event was to use the traditional Seder meal, which Jews practice on the first two nights of Passover, as a model to highlight and indeed confront the issue of poverty in Greater Dallas. Many people in Dallas remain virtual slaves to their difficult circumstances, just as in the Passover story the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt.

Susan Hoff

The Seder was led by Congregation Anshai Torah's Senior Rabbi, Stefan Weinberg, and included readers from the clergy of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. Our good friend, Susan Hoff, CSO of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, was the keynote speaker. She urged those present to be mindful of the fact that for too many people the American promise - that if you work hard, you can rise out of poverty - is slipping away. She reminded all of us that through collective action we can change this.  

Lecture and Discussion - The Victimization Experiences and Health Challenges of Women Who are Homeless - 4/10/15 - 12-1.30pm

Austin Street Shelter and the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance present a lecture and discussion: The Victimization Experiences and Health Challenges of Women Who are Homeless

Dr. Emily Spence-Almaguer

A presentation of a study conducted by the University of North Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health involving interviews of 150 homeless women that provides an understanding of the violence and threats experienced by homeless women on the street and in emergency shelter settings.

WHEN: Friday, April 10 Noon - 1:30 pm

WHERE: Austin Street Shelter, 2929 Hickory Street, Dallas, TX 75226

COST: This is a free event. Brown Bag - Bring your own lunch

RSVP: Brooke Meyer 214-389-7709 bmeyer@genesisshelter.org

Presenters:   

Dr. Emily Spence-Almaguer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health in the University of North Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health. She is also the Outreach Core Director for the Texas Center for Health Disparities, a National Institute of Health (NIH) Center of Excellence. She obtained her master's degree in social work from Florida State University and her PhD from Florida International University. She began her career providing crisis services to victims of crimes, and has been conducting research and evaluation studies in the areas of homelessness, victimization, poverty, and other areas for nearly 25 years. She serves as an evaluator for several community initiatives and has authored numerous reports, book chapters and scholarly articles on homelessness and interpersonal violence.

Gabrianna Saks is a medical student at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC). She completed her Masters degree in Public Health (MPH) and served as Coordinator for the Tarrant County Homeless Women's Health and Victimization study during her final year of the MPH program. She regularly volunteers at health clinics for people who are homeless and was awarded a first-place Research Appreciation Day award by the UNTHSC ForHER institute for women's health.

Tarrant’s Homelessness Game-Changer Cindy Crain Shifts Focus to Dallas, Collin as MDHA’s New CEO

Dallas, Texas (Jan. 27, 2015) – Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), an association of organizations devoted to ending homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, announces today that Cindy Crain will join as its new president and CEO effective March 1, 2015.

 

Cindy Crain

Previously, Crain served for seven years as executive director of Tarrant County Homeless Coalition (TCHC) where she earned broad acclaim for radically transforming the organization’s operations and tackling homelessness in Tarrant County. While there, she led efforts to improve the central database used by more than 30 human services organizations to provide real-time knowledge of clients and shelters and more accurately match the needs of homeless persons with the most appropriate housing intervention. Recognizing case managers as being the most critical yet often under-supported person in leading someone in crisis to a life of stability, dignity and self-sufficiency, Crain also developed and implemented an extensive year-round training and recognition program for case managers assuring access to at least 15 continuing education credits for social work licensure.  During Crain's tenure at TCHC, the agency grew from one person to nine and from just over $100,000 to $1.4 million annually to provide extensive services to agencies serving the homeless. 
Larry James, president and CEO of CitySquare, MDHA board member, and Dallas Mayor Rawlings’ appointed leader of the city’s poverty task force, spearheaded search efforts that ultimately led to Crain.

“In our three-month search process, we were encouraged to see such a large pool of qualified candidates interested in leading Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance,” said James. “The organization has made significant progress over the past few years in reducing chronic homelessness. With our goal to end homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, it did not take long for us to realize that Cindy Crain is the perfect person for this job.” 

Britton Banowsky, Commissioner of Conference USA and MDHA Board Chair, echoed sentiments about Crain leading homelessness efforts in Dallas and Collin counties. 

"We are excited and so fortunate to have Cindy Crain lead our efforts to address homelessness in our community. She is a nationally recognized expert and proven leader in her field. She is also a wonderful and compassionate person. There is no doubt she will make an amazing positive impact to the organization, and in the lives of countless people throughout North Texas in the years ahead," said Banowsky

Before joining TCHC in 2004, Crain worked in Tarrant County and the City of Fort Worth. She holds a Master of Public Administration degree as a Graduate Fellow from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas Christian University. Crain succeeds former MDHA president and CEO Michael Faenza who announced his retirement October 2014 and consulted with the organization until January 1, 2015. 

About MDHA: The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) is an association of organizations devoted to ending homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, by putting people into homes. It facilitates over $16.8 million of annual federal funding, coordinates services, and drives improvement in more than 40 different transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing programs. Since 2004, MDHA has overseen a reduction of 65% in chronic homelessness, and an increase of 1200% in permanent supportive housing units. It improved homeless housing program performance by 30% in just the last three years. Finally, it launched and operated The Bridge, a $28 million intake center for those experiencing homelessness, before spinning it off as a separate non-profit. It is committed to ending veteran homelessness and chronic homelessness in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

This Book Blew Me Away!

I just finished reading one of the best books I have ever read. It just blew me away.

The book, which came out this year, is No Greatness without Goodness – How a Father’s Love Changed a Company and Sparked a Movement. It is the story of former Walgreens Senior Vice President, Randy Lewis, which he tells in first person. Raising an autistic son inspired him to lead Walgreens towards a reality, where 10% of their workforce is made up of persons with disabilities. He did this without sacrificing anything on the business end of the ledger. He is emphatic about the fact that this can work in any company, and in fact has inspired other companies to do the same as Walgreens. He insists that this is all out of a sense of justice, not charity.

Since when you are a hammer everything is a nail, while reading this I obviously reflected on what this might mean for our fight to end homelessness. Homelessness is primarily an issue of poverty, while chronic homelessness, is an area where poverty and disability meet and exacerbate each other. Could such policies, like the one Lewis led at Walgreens, help in this area? I can’t see why not. He gives specific examples of people, who due to their disabilities, were never given a chance to find meaningful employment. Once his policies were enacted, they joined Walgreens, and now serve as valuable employees. An obvious result of this, is that they leave the ranks of the poor.

The larger theme that he talks about is instructive too. We have achievable goals in place to end veteran homelessness and chronic homelessness in the next two years. We are already “breaking the mold” in the area of homelessness, in general, with the funding of Rapid Rehousing programs for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. However, these achievements and initiatives will not solve the problem of those who are “doubled-up” with friends or family, who are probably number around 7.5 million people in our country. They most certainly will not solve the challenges people face every day living in substandard housing or housing they cannot afford. The only solution to these problems, and at the end of the day, the only thing that will help cure poverty is if our country decides to act as it should, and truly invest in ending poverty out of a sense of obligation, justice and love.

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

Leader in the Fight to End Homelessness Set to Retire, As Agency Prepares to Build on His Legacy

Dallas, Texas – Michael M. Faenza, President and CEO of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), and a national leader in the area of mental health for the past 35 years, announced his retirement last week, effective January 1, 2015. He will remain with MDHA in a consulting role, as the agency searches for his successor. MDHA is an association of organizations devoted to ending homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, by putting people into homes. In order to end homelessness, it facilitates over $16,750,000 of annual federal funding, coordinates services, and drives improvement in more than 45 different transitional housing (TH), rapid rehousing (RRH), and permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs. 

Faenza, a distinguished alumnus of the University of Texas at Arlington Graduate School of Social Work, was a fixture of the Dallas social service scene from 1979 to 1993. He was the first vocational coordinator for Dallas County Mental Health Mental Retardation (MHMR), Executive and Clinical Director of the Letot Center for runaway youth, within the Dallas County Juvenile Department, and Executive Director of the Mental Health Association (MHA) of Greater Dallas. He was then elevated to President and CEO of the National MHA in Washington, D.C., a position he served in for 14 years.

Faenza returned to Dallas in 2007 to serve as the President and CEO of MDHA. Under Faenza’s leadership, MDHA took The Bridge, Dallas’ state of the art, $28 million homeless intake and service center, from a mere idea on paper to a fully functioning institution, that today serves as a model for other cities around the country. The Bridge was spun off as a separate non-profit three years ago. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, then the Dallas “Homeless Czar”, reminisced fondly about that period, “Mike came to be my partner as we put together our long term vision to service the homeless many years ago. I enjoyed working with him and never have I met a man that has a bigger heart for those that don't have a voice.”

Larry James, President and CEO of CitySquare, and a MDHA board member emphasized Faenza’s decisive impact on Dallas, beyond The Bridge: “Working with the community to bring $17 million annually back to Dallas from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for use in providing permanent supportive housing, while creatively adding hundreds of units of housing for the homeless in partnership with the Dallas Housing Authority, Mike has distinguished himself as a fierce and innovative leader. MDHA wishes him only the best while acknowledging that he will be missed.” During his tenure at MDHA, Faenza oversaw an increase in PSH units of about 350%, from 600 to 2050, a continued drop in chronic homelessness to 65% below where it was in 2004, and an improvement of more than 30% in PSH services in just the last three years.

MaryAnn Russ, fellow board member of James, and President and CEO of the Dallas Housing Authority, echoed these sentiments earlier this year: “Due to our partnership with MDHA, we prioritized the housing of those experiencing homelessness, and have so far housed more than 3400 formerly homeless individuals and families. In monetary terms, with an average rent of $700 per month, our investment tops $28,000,000 annually. This would not be happening, if not for Faenza and MDHA’s forward thinking.”

Faenza has continuously emphasized that the fight against homelessness is just a piece of the puzzle, in the general fight against poverty. Earlier this year he stated, “Dallas still has some of the highest poverty rates in the country, affordable housing is scarce, and the mental health provider reimbursement system is dismally underfunded.” Indeed, throughout his tenure, it has been important to Faenza to remind the community that ending homelessness, will not make these larger problems go away.

Britton Banowsky, Commissioner of Conference USA, and Chair of the MDHA board, was effusive in his praise of Faenza, saying, “Mike's contribution to the homeless in our community cannot be overstated. His passion for the cause and years of dedicated service are a great example for all of us. MDHA and our many partners that support and provide service to the homeless are grateful for Mike's leadership. Our work is already underway to find his successor, who we expect to build on the great foundation in place and take the organization to an even higher level of service.”

Perhaps the most important indicator of Faenza’s success is how his staff feels upon his retirement. David Gruber, MDHA’s Development Manager, summed it up, saying, “I know I speak for all of us, when I say that Mike is not just a leader, but a true friend and a great inspiration to each one of us. His model of leadership is one, where the absolute focus is always on those who need help, giving a voice to the voiceless, without compromise. As a tribute to him, we will carry on his vision, and continue the fight to end homelessness in our community.”