Liveblogging the Latest in the Never-Ending Story of Permanent Supportive Housing

By Patrick Michels Mon., Oct. 4 2010 at 2:35 PM

Categories: City Hall, News

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Patrick Michels

MDHA board chairman John Castle

Nobody at City Hall can seem to hear enough about permanent supportive housing these days, and since the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance's Mike Faenza just can't talk it up enough, we're back at City Hall for another update on how the city's PSH programs are doing at filling up neighborhoods and emptying out The Bridge.

John Castle, who's settling into his role as Homeless Czar Lite, is kicking things off with a leisurely stroll through a slide show of stats. In the last 26 months, PSH programs have made 841 housing placements, Castle says, even after a rough run trying to fit people into Cliff Manor last year -- no, earlier this year, he corrects himself. "It felt like last year," Dave Neumann offers in a cheerful flash of self-pity.

Thanks in part to Randy Skinner and his new, faith-based "Homes For Our Neighbors" program, Castle says there's a more neighborly vibe surrounding Cliff Manor today. Thanks to iWatch, I say it's just a matter of time till they're all reporting each other to the cops from their computers and iPhones.

Faenza -- who Neumann called his "media star" a few minutes before the meeting started -- runs through the three areas MDHA's focused on adding PSH units this year: 40 women's-only units at Pebbles Apartments, 50 apartments at Cliff Manor, and 500 vouchers for other apartments scattered around the city. Well, maybe not "scattered."

Running down the table, Dallas Housing Authority president MaryAnn Russ talks about that distribution -- Neumann's district, which "embraces West Dallas," does have a whole lot of the city's subsidized housing and PSH units. "It's less than it used to be, but it's still a high concentration. DHA is still fixing to send out that request for landlords' proposals to accept 350 housing vouchers -- of course, she says, they'll be letting council members know first.

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@ Patrick As I understand it, DHA distributes about 16,000 Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. I also understand there is a LONG waiting list of people lined up to receive vouchers. So, the question becomes where did DHA come up with an additional 500 vouchers. Are they putting the formerly homeless, and this PSH program, "in front of" others who should be legitimately receiving the 500 vouchers that seem to be available?
"Housing needs to go where it is affordable," Faenza says, firmly in wrapping-up mode here. Salazar points out that the state and county people who have something to say about this aren't in the room right now, and they need to be talking to them too. Salazar asks Jerry Killingsworth to take a look at boarding houses specifically, at Hunt and Pauline Medrano's request, and bring more details on that when we all do this again next spring. With that, the hinterlands are clearing out, and we're all out of here in 90 minutes or less.
Angela Hunt says it's also "a little myopic" to only consider the distribution of PSH units around the city, while leaving out other types of public housing and boarding houses around the city. Broussard says they look at all kinds of public housing when they're running their distribution numbers, though "We haven't specifically identified boarding homes as a criteria." "Please do," Hunt says.
Neumann wraps up his time by pushing once again for spreading "Neither DHA nor MDHA is interested in creating an institutional setting," Russ says. "If we have densities that are too high, it starts to become something else." The proportion of PSH units in a building is always something they take into account. Neumann wants to see them look at the number of units in a neighborhood too, not just the individual building. Broussard says it is something they look at, that they give proposals 10 extra points if they're in less represented neighborhoods, Broussard adds. "Give 'em 20," Neumann says.
The Cliff Manor Task Force is "still together as a nu-cu-lus," Neumann says, to illustrate what a great deal that has been. But he wonders why DHA wasn't involved in PSH before. "It's been real easy," Russ says, for past leadership "to say, 'not my problem' about housing the homeless." They're thrilled they could do 500 units this year, Russ says, but the question now is whether they can match that next year -- it'll take matching the budget they had this year, she says, "Which I consider to be a delightful unlikeliness."
Answering another question from Allen, Russ explains that anyone who's got a housing voucher can take it anywhere they can find housing. "We are not permitted" to tell people where to live. "They can go to Guam," she suggests. "We just need to get the message out," Allen says, "and the whole program will be better." The faith-based community, especially, is stepping up. Neumann follows Allen by thanking the room, even Skinner "out in the hinterlands." And he's got a better seat than I do.
Allen says it's all about "turning the properties into villages," and nods to the iWatch presentation earlier today. "If you see something, say something. And you do so with privacy." It's all about the network of service providers working with the housing sites, Faenza adds, which is why it's troubling to see how much they struggle to stay in business. "I'm always afraid they're gonna get out of the business." You've gotta really care to be in the nonprofit world, Faenza says.
Russ adds that the housing downturn has actually made it a better time to rent through the DHA. "People can get better housing with a voucher than they could five years ago." The housing voucher program started in 1975 -- "there are some people who've been in the program practically since then," Russ says. Jerry Allen offers his "take-away right off the bat," which is this: "Y'all have come a long way. Y'all have come a long way." Allen nods to Skinner and the faith-based community, as well. "That's the heart," he says.
Davis poses an example: "A young lady might have a voucher, and she wants to bring a boyfriend in... The boyfriend may decide he wants to sell drugs. At this point, it's a mess." What do you do then? First off, that boyfriend had better have his name on that lease if it's the place is being rented with a voucher, Russ tells her. DHA makes a point of letting people know how valuable a housing voucher is, "and don't screw it up." "What are you going to ensure that that unit is for that person, it's not for the mother, it's not for the father," Davis asks. She says she's seen this plenty of times. "It's a landlord issue," Russ tells her. It's up to the landlords to make sure they've got the right people living in their apartments. In addition, Russ says, (to paraphrase here) DHA can help kick out any unwanted family members.
You'd better believe Carolyn Davis has a few questions for this team. First off, she wonders about the makeup of these families being placed in PSH. "Most of these families are single parents with kids," Russ says. Some mothers, some fathers, but not many pairs of parents with kids. Will there be after-school programs? "That's essential," Russ tells her. Before-school and summer programs too. "If you're talking about families with kids, that's an absolutely essential part." These aren't programs staffed and funded by DHA, though. "A lot of these are coming from the faith community," Russ says. If there's no faith program available, Davis wonders, "What's plan B?" Russ says that's when they connect with a local school or a parents' network. "If we have to invent something, we have to invent something." Faenza adds that it's only recently that Dallas has had any PSH units for families at all -- Pebbles Apartments is one of the first.
Atkins presses for more detail on what needs to change, and Broussard chimes in: they're working with DPD and Chief Brown on tracking crime in the buildings where they've got vouchers, and reporting to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development when there's a landlord who isn't keeping buildings safe.
Tennell Atkins begins his question by asking for a lawyer -- always a good sign -- and someone from the City Attorney's office steps in at the table. He wants to know just how separate DHA and MDHA really are, and how their leadership is picked. The mayor -- when he's not off galavanting in Europe or China -- is the one who appoints DHA board members. He wants Russ to get down to business, and let him know what she'd change about the system if she could. The DHA is all about community buy-in, Russ tells him. "At the same time, we've got a job to do, and we're gonna do it." So maybe everyone else should get a little more used to how they do their job. "I have been kind of quiet about the situation. But I do understand the situation, because I came from the projects," Atkins says. Apartment managers need to work with DHA on these vouchers, and people need bootstraps to pull on.
That "Planning for the Future" slide can only mean we've hit the end of the PowerPoint, and committee chair Steve Salazar jumps in with the first comment from the council. "The most successful projects are the ones you've never heard about," Salazar points out, not the housing projects that have turned out a little crimey.