DeSoto Confronts Rising Homelessness as Dallas Pushes Encampments to Suburbs

DESOTO – As Dallas clears its homeless population out of that city, it is no surprise suburbs like DeSoto are finding more of an uptick in the “unhoused” situation.

At a Special DeSoto City Council meeting Monday night, one item on the agenda addressed the coming need to address this increase in numbers.

The homeless situation in DeSoto falls to the Tri-City Regional Care Team, which encompasses not only DeSoto but also Cedar Hill and Duncanville, and it plans to include Lancaster and Glenn Heights in the future.

DeSoto Lt. Melissa Franks is the Regional Team Coordinator, and at Monday’s meeting, she reminded the council that the City of Dallas has initiated programs to move its homeless encampments out of the city to clear up its communities.

“I am on bi-weekly meetings with them to find out what they are doing and how that might affect us here,” Franks explained. “One of the things I think will affect us is we are going to see an uptick because as people figure out they can’t camp out in Dallas, they are going to seek refuge in the suburbs.”

Franks stressed that the CARE Team’s vital concern is offering the homeless population arriving in DeSoto a holistic, human-centered, community-responsible approach upon arrival.

So far, however, there have been no concrete plans on how to do that or even the data to allow the team an accurate look at DeSoto’s homelessness count by the numbers.

DeSoto Mayor Rachel Proctor said the council needs to know these numbers to develop a plan.

Proctor asked what homelessness in DeSoto looks like regarding numbers, not just the words “a lot,” which can mean different things to different people.

“We need to understand better who we are trying to solve for before we create programs without really understanding the magnitude of the problem,” Proctor said.

Franks said there are no numbers.

“That is part of our objective to begin collecting data because right now, we have our in-house data collection system for the regional care team where we are tracking who we are interacting with, under what circumstances, what have been the needs that have been shared with us and how we have been meeting those needs,” she explained. “I do not have those exact numbers in front of me regarding unhoused individuals.”

She added that, on average, the CARE team interacts two to three times per week in the Tri-City Region.

Franks also reminded the Regional Care Team that it does not only respond to homelessness; its mission includes engaging with individuals and their families experiencing behavioral health needs.

Outreach, engagement, and the facilitation of resources are currently being used as first steps when homeless individuals are identified.

There is also a recovery plan, which is not a mandatory decision. If the homeless individual does not choose to utilize the city’s resources, the Regional Care Team respects that choice.

“To balance the need of the individual with the community for a safe and desirable place to live, work, and play, we also want to know that we have taken care of our individuals who are vulnerable,” Franks added.

For the homeless who do not choose to take advantage of the resources, Frank said there are “Mechanisms in place where if they do not want help, how they can be moved along to not cause issues with the other residents of DeSoto.”

Place 6 Crystal Chism, who placed this item on the agenda, had questions and said she had done so because of complaints the city receives about homelessness in DeSoto.

She asked Frank what the Regional Care Team looks like moving forward. She also mentioned the possibility of a homeless situation during CARE Team off-hours. She noted that the current infrastructure is only available during certain hours and days, and Franks said yes. The current resources do not do intake on weekends or nights, and in the morning, it is first come, first served.

Councilmember Place Four Andre Byrd said he knows Dallas is pushing their people north of I-20 in the area between Cockrell Hill and the Dennys. He said that the area has been turned into a homeless camp.

“I know since we are regional that would affect your uptick and those numbers,” he said to Franks. So, if you do see something I would request you let the council know so we can talk to our colleagues in Dallas.”

He added that when Dallas began to redevelop Red Bird, they began bringing homeless people to that area, and he felt that had been counterproductive. So, to the mayor’s point, let us know if you see an uptick.”

Franks also mentioned another layer to the Regional Care Team’s process: training all city staff on how to interact with and help the homeless in DeSoto while countering the interests of the city as a whole.

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