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Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman wants to change where police take unhoused people arrested on low-level offenses. On April 21, he asked the Farmers Branch City Council for help.
Sommerman proposed a regional network of deflection centers. The centers would send people to treatment and housing instead of the county jail.
Sommerman represents District 2 on the Dallas County Commissioners Court, which includes Farmers Branch, Addison and Carrollton. He told the council that unhoused individuals arrested on minor charges are cycling repeatedly through the county jail. Their mental health and housing needs go unaddressed, he said.
A common example is criminal trespass for riding Dallas Area Rapid Transit without a ticket. Sommerman described the pattern that follows. A person is arrested. They are held for hours in the county jail. They are released without resources. Eventually they are arrested again, often for a more serious offense.
Under Sommerman's model, police officers would have a choice. They could take eligible individuals to a deflection center rather than to jail.
"This fails without police help," Sommerman said. "If the police say, 'I'm just going to take them to jail. It's what I know. It's what I'm going to do.'"
Stabilization at a deflection center takes about 72 hours, Sommerman said. Placement into permanent supportive housing usually follows within three months. Officers would spend 10 to 15 minutes on a drop-off. Booking someone into the county jail takes several hours.
Sommerman cited figures from county records and research on supportive housing. He said 6,400 unique unsheltered individuals were booked into the Dallas County Jail in a recent year. Supportive housing has been shown to reduce arrests of unhoused individuals by 40 percent, he said. He also said 7,367 unsheltered patients accounted for roughly 52,000 visits to Parkland Hospital in 2025.
Sommerman pointed to a Miami program as the model for his proposal. He envisions four deflection centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, one in each commissioner district. Each would have about 100 beds. A pilot with eight beds is currently operating at Austin Street Center near downtown Dallas.
Councilmember David Reid asked about an existing facility called Homeward Bound. Sommerman said it holds about 40 beds. But it is effectively unavailable to police, he said, because a private partnership keeps it full. Reid also asked about permanent housing for people after the three-month deflection period. Sommerman said Housing Forward has indicated sufficient housing exists in Dallas and Collin counties. Federal vouchers must be available, he said.
Councilmember Elizabeth Villafranca asked Sommerman how the city could help. "These are our neighbors, and I know that it's easy to say, you know, we don't want to see them, but what can we do?" Villafranca asked.
Sommerman said the most important contribution would be clear direction to the Farmers Branch Police Department. Officers need to use deflection centers once they are available, he said.
Villafranca also asked whether the city could partner with existing facilities such as the St. Jude Centers in Dallas. Sommerman said the St. Jude Centers serve a different purpose. They provide permanent supportive housing, not deflection, and should continue in that role.
Sommerman said a Farmers Branch deflection center would need 20,000 to 40,000 square feet of appropriately zoned space. He said he has already visited potential sites. No location has been identified. County staff will continue searching for a site in the Metroplex.
Councilmember Roger Neal asked about funding. Sommerman said Dallas County is committed to building the facilities. But operations would require partnerships. The North Texas Behavioral Health Authority and possibly Parkland Hospital would need to be involved.
"Funding is the biggest challenge that we have associated with it," Sommerman said. "There are several options. None of them exist right now."
No council action was taken at the April 21 meeting.
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