Office of Homeless Solutions Fine-Tunes AIDS Healthcare Foundation Housing Pilot Program

The Dallas Office of Homeless Solutions proposed a pilot program in September that would house the homeless in partnership with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, costing the city about $3 million. 

A location for the housing development in City Council District 6, selected by the AHF, is already operational. City staff recommended partnering on the existing opportunity but council members were reluctant to move forward with a new opportunity while other city-owned homeless housing projects stagnate. 

The proposal wasn’t well-received. 

Housing Committee Is Skeptical of ‘Pilot Project’ Homeless Facility in District 6

Director of Homeless Solutions Christine Crossley revamped the plan and presented a new proposal during a Nov. 14 Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee meeting, emphasizing that no city funding is needed at this time. 

“Future funding opportunities could be utilized to help subsidize the creation of additional permanent supportive housing units or additional programming at the property as units fill in and programming needs expand,” she said. 

Two individuals already have been connected to housing on-site via referrals from the Dallas Office of Community Care, and the permanent supportive housing units are under renovation expected to go live in the next month or so, Crossley said. 

Funding Permanent Supportive Housing 

A three-step partnership with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation would: 

• Connect “unstably housed” low-income individuals to housing, case management, and financial coaching.
• Designate 48 units for permanent supportive housing with wraparound services. Those units are being renovated and will be funded through Dallas Housing Authority vouchers.
• Designate 152 units for low-income individuals, preventing homelessness.

To sustain the partnership down the road, city staff has suggested kicking in about $1 million to subsidize rent for low-income tenants in permanent supportive housing. 

“I think $1 million is probably a good place to start, knowing that it would be one-off funding and then see where it goes from there,” Crossley said. “But in the meantime, we didn’t want to keep this housing away from people who need it.”

Deputy City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said the amount needed in the future depends on available funding.

“We don’t have a pot of money sitting over to the side for any type of subsidies,” she said. “We don’t have a dollar amount at this point or a specific number, but I think as we go through this first step, the second step, and the third step, we would be able to come back and be able to speak to that more,”

Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn said she is “completely opposed” to funding permanent supportive housing with general funds. 

“That’s not what general funds are for and I am not in favor of that,” she said. 

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

The AHF has eight service locations in Dallas, offering pharmacies and thrift shops in addition to housing. The Foundation is part of the local Continuum of Care, Crossley said. 

“This is not for HIV or AIDS-specific individuals,” she said. “Their mission is to build or acquire units and make them available for those who are at or below 50 percent area median income, to refurbish units, and to really make sure that this model is scaled in all of their locations to give affordable housing to those who need it.” 

Councilwoman Gay Donnell Willis thanked the AHF for “coming to Dallas and taking this on.” She pointed out that in the September presentation, council members were told that plans called for temporary shelter rather than stabilized permanent supportive housing.

Crossley said the partnership continues to evolve. 

“When we looked at it originally, we looked at a pilot that would utilize all of the 152 units for temporary housing,” she said. “The funding load for us would have been very heavy. And so we were looking at it and said, ‘Well, how could we utilize the existing need and connect it to these units?’ And so what we came back with is, if we do no-cost, then this still fills an immediate need.”

That doesn’t preclude future partnerships, she added. 

“AIDS Healthcare Foundation is not only talking to the Office of Community Care, they’re also talking to the county and other partners who are asking for space,” she said. “I think there’s still plenty of room for some of those units to be utilized in that fashion if the committee decides that something they want to do, but we didn’t want to bring that forward as the one and only possibility.” 

Councilman Jesse Moreno, who chairs the Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee, encouraged staff to take such matters before the Dallas Homeless Commission for “deep-dive” vetting before going to the City Council.  

“I also want this committee to be straightforward and let staff know what direction we would like to move in,” Moreno said. “I know that I’ve heard around this horseshoe multiple times that we do want to look at more single-room occupants and more temporary housing. And so with that, I just want to make sure that we’re being heard when we’re around this horseshoe, in the direction that we would like to move forward.”