Dallas Homeless Shelters House Record Number in 90 Day Challenge

On Saturday, June 30, 2018, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), Austin Street Center, The Bridge and the Salvation Army concluded a three month “housing challenge”, housing a record number of shelter guests.

Research shows that the best solution for homelessness is to quickly and permanently house the homeless. Housing being a scarce resource, well-functioning homeless response systems prioritize housing those with the most acute needs. A side-effect of this is that those with less acute needs could languish in shelters.

This is why, earlier this year, MDHA invited Dallas shelters to participate in a “housing challenge” targeting this group of persons experiencing homelessness, with mid-level acuities. The idea of this initiative, modeled after a similar effort in Atlanta, Georgia, was to house, at least, 90 emergency shelter guests in 90 days. Austin Street Center, The Bridge and the Salvation Army, decided to participate, and April 1, 2018 marked the beginning of the 90 in 90 Emergency Shelter Housing Challenge.

MDHA conducted Housing Planning Clinics for clients, and took groups of clients to tour homes and apartments. It highlighted how the MDHA Flex Fund could help with minor but impactful expenses that could help clients end their homelessness, and encouraged every client to build their own “My Housing Plan” framework to end their homelessness. MDHA even conducted a “speed dating” style activity to match potential roommates.

The bulk of the work was done by the shelters and their guests, and MDHA encouraged the three shelters to use their creativity to enjoy some healthy competition. An example of that was the Golden Key award. Pictured you can see Austin Street Center’s safety officer, Billy Cromer, with the Golden Key, having housed four guests in just the first two weeks of April. Some might wonder, what business does a security officer have housing people? In a well-functioning homeless response system, however, shelters create an environment where every team member is responsible for housing, and feels a sense of urgency in getting everyone into housing, as soon as possible, with as few barriers as possible.

Billy Cromer, Austin Street Center

Dr. David Woody, III, President and CEO of The Bridge, was effusive about the effect the challenge had not only on guests, but on The Bridge team, “With sparse affordable or permanent supportive housing available for our guests in the community, our Care Managers embraced the notion of the 90 in 90 Emergency Shelter Housing Challenge… and… engaged their guests, creatively immersing themselves in the community. Most importantly they went beyond housing options folks have typically gravitated toward and were rewarded for the critical thinking they implemented. We learned a good deal about ourselves…”

Dr. Lester Collins, MDHA’s Continuum of Care Performance Analyst, carefully tracked the numbers throughout the challenge. He reported back to the shelters every week on how many persons were housed, and MDHA shared those numbers on its Facebook page and blog. Dr. Collins was excited to share the final numbers earlier this week, “In the 90 in 90 Emergency Shelter Housing Challenge, between April 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018, 219 people exited to permanent housing destinations from the three emergency shelters, with Austin Street Center housing 107, The Bridge housing 52, and the Salvation Army housing 60.

Dr. David Woody, III, The Bridge

Daniel Roby, Executive Director of Austin Street Center was beaming when he heard the news, “We are grateful for MDHA’s challenge, as it not only draws attention to an important issue facing the Dallas community, but also helps solve it. At Austin Street Center, it was exciting to apply innovative solutions to successfully transition 107 individuals out of homelessness.” Blake Fetterman, Executive Director of the Salvation Army Carr P. Collins Service Center agrees, and her admiration for her staff shows, “The ‘90 in 90’ challenge gave the Salvation Army and participating organizations the opportunity to truly highlight the amazing work of our shelter staff in their efforts to help people in our community end their homelessness.”

MDHA and the shelters will now study the challenge, reflect on what worked well, and what could be improved, and then issue the next challenge. “This is not a one-time event,” said Diana Romagnoli, MDHA’s Interim COO, “The overwhelming success of this challenge has shown us what we as a homeless response system can do, when we all work together. This is just the beginning.

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