Talk of Moving Dallas Homeless Shelter Out of Downtown Raises Eyebrows

The future of one of the city’s main homeless service providers seemed suddenly up in the air this week following an unofficial meeting about possibly relocating the service site to Dallas Executive Airport.

While nothing came out of the Tuesday meeting policy-wise, word had been circulating the day before about a push to move The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center out of downtown and into southern Dallas.

Needless to say, some social media users were critical of the prospect. Here’s a sampling:

The Bridge is situated at 1818 Corsicana St. in Council Member Jesse Moreno’s District 2. Crime and homelessness in the area have spurred a new initiative to clean up the neighborhood in anticipation of next year’s World Cup activity, a lot of which will be happening downtown.

World Cup aside, there were plenty of folks on social media who were at least open if not supportive of getting The Bridge out of the central business district:

Moreno, a member of the Housing & Homelessness Committee, attended the Tuesday meeting along with fellow committee members Lori Blair (District 8), Zarin Gracey (District 3), and Cara Mendelsohn (District 12).

Dallas Executive Airport is located in Gracey’s district.

Apparently, “an outside group of philanthropists” that included Ashford Inc. chief accounting officer Mark Nunnely and developer Steve Van Amburgh gave a presentation touting the benefits of the homeless services model employed by Haven for Hope in San Antonio, according to Mendlesohn, WFAA reported.

Concerned that the meeting was not posted for public consumption and therefore, a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, Council Members Adam Bazaldua (District 7) and Paula Blackmon (District 9) interrupted the gathering and snapped a picture — accusing those in attendance of amassing a quorum to conduct city business without publicizing the meeting in accordance with state law.

Now, there’s quite a lot going on here, and to be perfectly honest, whether anyone violated TOMA is one of the least interesting things at play. Long story short, a legal expert told The Dallas Morning News that the circumstances of the meeting “may be legal, but it may not be right.”

Mendelsohn, chair of the Housing & Homelessness Solutions Committee, told WFAA that upon becoming aware of the potential TOMA violation, she exited the meeting. Blair, the committee’s vice chair, released a statement and told DMN that Mendelsohn organized the meeting.

Later in the day, Gracey issued a statement:

“I want to provide clarity regarding my participation in a recent meeting. I was invited to learn about the Haven for Hope model in San Antonio. From what I gathered, the proposal was to potentially replicate this model at Dallas Executive Airport, which, according to the information shared, would serve as a replacement for The Bridge currently located in Dallas.

“While I value learning about innovative approaches such as Haven for Hope, I want to be clear: the idea of relocating The Bridge to Dallas Executive Airport is not something I, nor the community I represent, support. … To repurpose [the airport] for uses that could discourage economic momentum would run counter to the vision we share for our community.”

Similar to The Bridge, Haven for Hope operates as a one-stop shop for emergency housing and social services for people experiencing homelessness. The main differences between the shelters appear to be size, the range of services on offer, and proximity to their respective central business districts.

The Bridge can accommodate 300-400 people (technically over capacity) on about 3.4 acres and is just within downtown’s borders. Haven for Hope can accommodate several hundred more across 22 acres and is located just outside San Antonio’s city center (the shelter has been operating over capacity for years and is reportedly now scaling down how many clients it is willing to accommodate, hoping to land around 1,400).

On Wednesday, the president and CEO of The Bridge, Dr. David Woody III, addressed the city council rather intensely during the public comment portion of the body’s meeting, imploring council members to continue supporting The Bridge and its operations by approving a number of items that Mendelsohn had apparently pulled from the consent agenda.

“Since October 2024, employees of The Bridge have engaged over 6,300 guests, and at this time, we anticipate engaging 1,000 more than all of last fiscal year,” he said. “In addition, we are hosting over 70 guests, two-thirds of whom are female, in our campus overflow night shelter, increasing our night shelter capacity to 400 guests in the evening due to the lack of adequate night shelter within our local homeless response system.”

Most of the items had to do with renewing various contracts with homeless service providers (including The Bridge) that are due to expire in the coming days. Mendelsohn motioned for each to be sent back to committee.

She said the contracts needed further review at the committee level with briefings on performance metrics from staff and stakeholders.

“We have no outcome measures on the performance of last year’s contracts, we have no opportunity to set goals for the coming year, and we have no performance measures that we’re putting in place for the coming year,” Mendelsohn said, stressing that the city council shouldn’t just be a rubber stamp for staff-driven policy proposals.

There wasn’t much stomach at the horseshoe for the motions after council members learned that there would be lapses in homeless services in some cases. All the contracts were renewed.

All that was to say, council members will likely have their guard up going forward when it comes to homeless issues. There are serious problems downtown, no doubt, but any proposals to relocate big providers like The Bridge or concentrate services in a particular location are bound to provoke intense pushback from impacted neighborhoods and other stakeholders.

Everyone seems to agree that something needs to be done, but what and where can be existential questions.