FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cindy J. Crain
President and CEO, MDHA
817-991-9127, Cindy.Crain@mdhadallas.org
Housing and
Shelter Targets Exceeded as Haskell Encampment Closes;
Street
Outreach and Case Management Continues
Haskell Encampment, Dallas, Texas – Today , October 24,
2016, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) and the Street Outreach
Initiative, closes 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 will be formally closed beginning at
9:00 a.m. tomorrow, October 25.
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 today, 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 Shelter, 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.
Today, 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.
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