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Homelessness, in and out of city limits, was a focus of discussion Feb. 18 when leaders from DART Cares and Housing Forward met with the Farmers Branch City Council during the Feb. 18 study session.
DART Cares is a social responsibility program of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), which started in 2022 following discussions with the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute that focused on options and best practices for the transportation organization to follow in regard to dealing with people who are unhoused, said Larry Henderson, director of social responsibility.
As a result, DART now has four multi-disciplinary response teams that patrols both the rail and bus system from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday to help people who are in crisis and encourage them to seek resources. Two teams, both with a dedicated DART police officer and a contracted mental health professional from Parkland Health, patrol buses, bus routes as well as the rail as needed. One team, one with a dedicated DART police officer and a contracted mental health professional from Parkland, and one team that consists of only a DART police officer trained in mental health who is supported by the other teams, are dedicated to the rail system. The teams focus on crisis intervention, including severe mental health challenges. Teams can assess people in distress and determine the appropriate steps to help them, which, may include referring them to mental health professionals, offering immediate support or guiding them to the right resources, Henderson said. He said DART partnered with Austin Street Shelter to help people find long-term solutions, such as housing and social services.
Outside of the hours of the team, all DART police officers have access to a resource guide and can help people who are unhoused or need resources, DART Police Chief Charlie Cato said.
Before 2022, people who were unhoused used DART as a shelter, Henderson said. Now DART is proactively working to provide safe space for riders and the 13 member cities, Henderson said.
City Councilmember Tina Bennett-Burton asked who will respond if someone is having a crisis at the McDonald’s at the intersection of Josey and Valley View lanes.
Cato said that DART officers will respond to any bus or rail station.
City Councilmember Roger Neal asked what happens if someone refuses assistance.
Cato said DART uses a three-pronged approach. The first step is to educate people on the resources available. The second step it to encourage them to take advantage of those opportunities. “Even if we have to give them a ride or call one of the other services to pick them up,” he said.
Enforcement is the remaining piece, and Cato said is the approach officers try not to use. “The reality is if they aren’t doing anything wrong, not committing any crime, we’re not going to just arrest them or write them a ticket,” Cato said, “but oftentimes, those that we encounter are already engaged in some activity that drew our attention that could lead to some enforcement action. But before we get to that piece we want to educate and encourage them before we get to the enforcement. That’s our goal.”
Mayor Terry Lynne hesitated before asking about how dispatch handles calls because he said he thought Farmers Branch residents were more likely to call 911 and be routed through the North Texas Emergency Communications Center (NTECC) or the Dallas dispatch instead of calling the DART dispatch number, but Cato looked at Farmers Branch calls and said it wasn’t likely to be a problem.
He said that in 2023, DART officers responded to 22 calls in Farmers Branch. In 2024, they responded to 14 calls in Farmers Branch.
“It’s not an everyday occurrence, it’s not real common, but when it does happen, we will respond and address those calls,” he said.
Henderson also said that DART Cares also is now working with Metrocrest Services.
President and CEO Sarah Kahn of Housing Forward presented her organization to the Farmers Branch City Council for the first time since she became president and CEO in 2023.
She said Housing Forward is designed to encompass and lead all the different organizations that work to help people who are homeless in Dallas and Collin counties, under a unified vision with the ultimate goal of ending homelessness in the area.
“I think of us as the quarterback for the homeless response system, which covers all of Dallas County and all of Collin County,” she said.
Housing Forward supports the All Neighbors Coalition of 150 public and private entities that have implemented programs to help end homelessness. Kahn described the creation of Housing Forward in 2021 as a great disruptor that has since been recognized nationally for reducing the numbers of people experiencing homelessness.
“Prior to that, what we were doing wasn’t working. We had a ton of great partners doing really great work but doing that work on their own without a lead agency that could bring people together and support people under a unified vision,” she said.
Now, with new interventions including immediate funding, rental assistance and other comprehensive care, people who come into a homeless shelter can be placed out in one to three days. This is because Housing Forward creates relationships in the private sector so there is housing for people to go to. Creating exit plans and helping people exit homelessness is how the organization makes a difference at a time when there are record increases in homelessness and 75 percent of communities across the nation aren’t able to solve the math problem, Kahn said.
“We have started to turn the battleship on homelessness. We still have a lot of work to do,” she said. “We have a long way to go. Y’all see it. Your constituents see it.”
Kahn referenced Dallas’s $30 million Street to Home initiative, which aims to reduce homelessness by 50 percent and resolve homeless encampments in public locations, such as under Interstate 635.
“We have pockets of people living in unsafe conditions. We need to target those areas,” Kahn said. “We do that by bringing behavioral health care and rehousing assistance directly to those sites.”
She said the combination of street medicine teams, addiction specialists, peer-support teams, outreach workers and housing providers help people to move into permanent housing.
In downtown Dallas, near the Dallas Public Library and City Hall, Housing Forward’s teams housed 170 people in 85 days, she said.
She said the key to preventing people coming back to locations such as under I-635 is a combination of enforcement, security presence or in more public spaces, by reactivating those public spaces.
Neal asked about the frequency of patrols and what would be needed to manage the underpasses of I-635 once those areas were closed.
Kahn said Housing Forward would need rely on their partners in this situation, specifically the Texas Department of Transportation, Dallas Police Department and private security, along with, sometimes the Dallas County Marshals with very intensive patrolling.
“Up to three times a day in some areas,” she said.
Lynne said he’s heard from residents who do not want anyone living under the bridges, but that he recognized that sweeps don’t really resolve the problem, just move people to another area.
“One of the things that weighs heavy on my mind is the City of Dallas has a budget for dealing with the homeless situation… Of course, the county has stepped up to provide financial resources, support also, to a very big extent,” he said. “I want us and our council as a body to have additional discussion as to what we’re looking for, what policy we’re trying to create to address this and move the discussions forward. I can’t expect Dallas to do everything. And a lot of the issues that our residents are complaining about are on City of Dallas property.”
Lynne said having people live under the bridge causes problems for the local business, 7-11 and Dallas Medical Center in particular, and presents them with a health problem because of human waste.
Bennett-Burton said that the City of Dallas implemented an environmental clean-up fund that adds $3 per month to the city’s residential and non-residential utility accounts in October 2024, and is expected to bring in $10.5 million for the city.
“If we’re thinking what can we do, that’s what Dallas has done,” she said. “We might take a leap from there.”
Lynne said homelessness is on the agenda for his town hall at The Branch Connection when that facility re-opens. “To see whether there’s an appetite for residents to step up and have to pay an additional fee to pay for this.”
Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman for District 2, which includes Farmers Branch, attended the City Council study session.
He said that Dallas County is committed to adding resources to help solve homelessness throughout the county. “There is a way that I think that cities can share in resources in order to get this task accomplished,” he said. “It is my goal to bring a number of cities to the table all at the same time, especially those in District 2.”
