Emergency shelter for homeless moves to Dallas public library basement

In the basement of Dallas’ downtown library, deep sleepers who averted the cold winds outside snored. Bare feet poked out of gray blankets on cots provided by the city.

At 6:32 a.m. Wednesday, Monica Hardman turned on the lights of a small conference room.

“Good morning!” The Office of Homeless Solutions director began to wake the women dozing on white cots. “We have coffee upstairs, and breakfast.”

A man stood just outside the women’s room as they began to wake. Hardman recognized him and asked if he was looking for his wife, then offered to help him find her.

It was the seventh time that Dallas has provided emergency shelter to the homeless on a sub-freezing night — and it was to continue through Thursday morning. But it’s the first time that refuge has been in the basement of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library on Young Street.

After demands from Council member Cara Mendelsohn, Dallas offered temporary shelter for the homeless in November. During the six days the city offered refuge in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Dallas spent more than half its $200,000 annual budget for inclement weather.

Miscommunication with faith leaders and service providers, who helped take homeless people to the city’s shelter, also prompted outcry when some with felony warrants were arrested. While it’s an industry standard to conduct background checks, some who worked with the homeless said they were blindsided by the process.

Since then, the city has made adjustments. Hardman said her office in December became smarter about staffing to cut overtime costs. It’s dropped the threshold that would prompt a city emergency shelter to open from 36 to 32 degrees by 10 p.m. And when the convention center is booked, the homeless will stay in the basement of the central library.

The library is a temporary solution for the rest of the winter and spring, said Jo Giudice, director of the Dallas Public Library.

Just a few days before the shelter opened Tuesday, library staffers scrambled to move thousands of pounds of books, furniture, CDs and DVDs that had been stored in the now-vacant basement to Hensley Field, the former Navy property in southwest Dallas.

Giudice said staffers weren’t paid overtime. Initial cost estimates to move the items ranged from $26,000-$50,000 — money the library didn’t have.

But staffers were determined to make the shelter work, she said.

“Maybe there was that moment of, ‘Oh my gosh. This is going to be a lot,’” Giudice said. “People were sweating to make this happen. … That social work aspect is becoming the norm in public libraries, and it’s just how we are evolving.”

Dallas served about 120 people Tuesday night, adding to the 605 people they helped over six nights. Afterward, people had the option to stay at the library to weather the cold or get taken by Downtown Dallas Inc. to homeless service providers, such as The Stewpot of First Presbyterian Church or The Bridge shelter.

The city decided to provide emergency shelter to the homeless when a long-term fix couldn’t make it to the full council in time for winter. A new city chapter and zoning change would allow faith-based organizations to offer emergency shelter — but that won’t be heard until May.

The issue has become more pressing as the city’s homeless population continues to grow while the number of shelter beds has stayed flat for over a decade.

Service providers still want something more permanent — housing for the homeless.

‘They weren’t born homeless’

On a Thursday night in January, volunteers from the Oak Lawn United Methodist Church scoured the neighborhood to try to count every homeless person. That night, Chester Ray Corder slept on a mattress under a staircase, just outside a vacant, dilapidated building.

Corder, 53, said he became homeless 10 years ago after he lost his car, then his job when he couldn’t get to work. He’s also HIV-positive and has struggled with alcohol abuse and major depression, he said.

Michelle Brady sought shelter under a bridge that night. She said three years ago, a divorce from an abusive husband with a drug problem prompted a series of events that ultimately landed her on the streets.

“I’m not blaming it all on him, but that got the ball rolling,” she said. Brady also struggles to walk, which has limited her job opportunities. She has applied for disability three times, she added.

More than 1,750 volunteers for the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance wandered through neighborhoods Jan. 23 for the Point-in-Time homeless count, mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for cities across the country.

That count is used for several programs, making an accurate number crucial to get money for services.

Providers are struggling to keep up with the increasing population. David Woody, president and CEO of The Bridge homeless shelter, has seen the city’s allocation for its services shrink. Meanwhile the point-in-time count spiked by 9% last year to over 4,500 — a number Woody believes is short by around 2,500 people.

“I know the community wants something to happen. I get that,” he said. “But again it’s about a commitment of resources.”

The Bridge has roughly an $11 million annual budget, $3.4 million of which comes from the city. Dallas has reduced its funding in the past two years by $330,000 each year, Woody said.

The city needs to provide more housing for the homeless, he said. And The Bridge, he added, needs more case workers and an outreach team to help identify the services their guests need the most.

Those who sought emergency shelter at The Bridge increased by 16% last year, he said, and as of October saw about 900 people a day.

“We need more outreach,” Woody said. “Outreach is a 24/7 experience. … The issue is massive.”

Rebecca Cox, chief services officer at The Bridge, said case workers are trying to serve more people with the same amount of resources.

As a former case worker, she often tried to form meaningful relationships and develop trust. She said there are still misconceptions about the people experiencing homelessness.

“At the core, everybody’s the same. I might have a house now, but I’m one cancer diagnosis away from being right there,” she said. “They weren’t born homeless. … We have a housing shortage problem. It’s all our problem.”

Council member Chad West, who heads the council’s Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee, has had discussions with faith leaders about the city’s options to increase its housing stock.

At a committee meeting in January, West said elected officials and staffers should commit to efforts that would reduce the homeless population and work more quickly on policy changes.

“We must acknowledge that past community plans and efforts have fallen short,” he said.