Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson has formed the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness Organizations, Policies, and Encampments (HOPE).
Using a data-driven and evidence-based approach, the HOPE Task Force will be responsible for finding, developing, and recommending concrete solutions to reduce homelessness and encourage healthier and safer communities in the city.
The City of Dallas has made major strides in its homelessness response in recent years, but Mayor Johnson would like to accelerate this progress and work to increase collaboration and cooperation within the region. The HOPE Task Force will also be asked to assess the current strategies, policies, and organizations aimed at reducing homelessness and make actionable recommendations to city and regional leaders.
To lead the HOPE Task Force, Mayor Johnson appointed three co-chairs who have worked in the city on housing, shelter services, healthcare, and treatment issues.
Mayor Johnson also announced the following seven individuals will be part of the Task Force:
Mayor Johnson announced his intention to form a homelessness task force during his State of the City Address late last year. In that speech, the mayor said that “Dallas is a city of love and empathy. But we’re also a city that cares about health and safety and respects our residents who simply want to walk to work or into one of our public libraries without being accosted and without fear.”
Mayor Johnson said Thursday that he wants to take the same “kitchen-sink” approach to addressing homelessness that he has taken to improving economic development and public safety. Through this approach, Dallas has added $14 billion in new development in the past four years and recently became the only top 10 American city to achieve two consecutive years of year-over-year violent crime reductions in every major category.
On homelessness, Dallas is currently participating in a regional Real-Time Rapid Rehousing program, which has helped rehouse nearly 2,000 people who were experiencing homelessness. But Mayor Johnson wants the HOPE Task Force to focus primarily on what to do about those who remain unhoused and unsheltered for various reasons.
“I am proud of the work already done by our city and our partners to address homelessness and care for our most vulnerable residents,” Mayor Johnson said. “But it is clear that people who are experiencing chronic homelessness continue to seek shelter on our streets, our sidewalks, and our underpasses that are filled with tents, sleeping bags, and waste.”
“We cannot afford to accept our progress to date as ‘good enough,’” Mayor Johnson added. “We still have more work to do, and together, with the help of the HOPE Task Force, we will ensure that Dallas is addressing homelessness in a way that is smart, compassionate, and considerate of the health, safety, and quality of life of all of our residents and businesses.”
The mayor has set a deadline of June 15 for the group to deliver a report containing its recommendations to the Office of the Mayor. Once it has completed its work, the Task Force will disband. The strategy is identical to the one that Mayor Johnson employed for his Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities, which produced four community-based public safety program recommendations that were later funded and supported by the Dallas City Council and by Dallas ISD.
To help guide the HOPE Task Force’s work, Mayor Johnson has provided the co-chairs with 12 major questions that he wants them to answer as part of its discussion of policy recommendations:
The HOPE Task Force is a volunteer group of private citizens and is not a formal city entity. The co-chairs will consult with public agencies and are encouraged to use any available private resources to further their discussions, research, and policy development.
The Task Force’s work will begin immediately.
The Mayor said he wanted to go about the city homelessness issue with the “Kitchen Sink Approach” as he did with the Dallas Police Department with the Violent Crime Reduction Program.
