Tackling homelessness is not something one agency or city can do on its own, and that’s why one local Denton County nonprofit created an outreach program and is connecting with cities around the county.
The Denton County Homelessness Leadership Team is a collective impact initiative supported by Lewisville, Denton and United Way of Denton County. As homelessness grows and needs arise, team officials are in the process of engaging other municipalities, including Little Elm, Carrollton, Lake Cities, Flower Mound, The Colony and Frisco.
“We’re lining up presentations with Highland Village, Lake Dallas, Flower Mound and Corinth councils,” said Courtney Cross, director of homelessness initiatives. “We realize that in order to truly make an impact in homelessness and housing advocacy and move the needle, we need to engage as many municipalities as possible.”
Recently, cities in Denton County were surveyed using the Point In Time (PIT system, which is volunteer-based and is meant to provide a snapshot or sample size analysis of people experiencing homelessness in Denton County. Little Elm, Lake Cities, Flower Mound and The Colony were among those surveyed.
“It’s difficult to track the origin of homelessness,” Cross said.
Volunteers did not come across any homeless in Flower Mound, Highland Village or Corinth, but Cross said that could be that people were not out when volunteers were canvassing the areas.
“We get more calls from people who are at-risk of homelessness in The Colony, rather than people who are homeless,” Cross said. “In the next year we want to include at-risk homelessness in our services.”
The solution to homelessness is of course housing, but as Lewisville City Councilman TJ Gilmore said, housing availability is becoming a challenge – not just in Lewisville, but nationwide.
Cross said emergency housing the UWDC team has available is usually at 96 to 98 percent occupancy rate.
“We know we need to build more units, and we’re working with county leaders on this,” Cross said.
In addition, they created the Doors for Denton County, which creates a single point of contact between nonprofits and the real estate community. The program helps provide financial incentives for apartments and other housing options to house people with “barriers,” including bad credit, criminal record and rental history. Cross said another issue the team faces is a lack of case managers.
“We need a housing navigator to help place people,” Cross said.
The position would support housing search and placement for agencies throughout the county. The UWDC is in the process of getting funding for the housing navigator position.
“We are currently seeking funding from multiple municipalities, the county and through grant funding,” Cross said. “Our goal is to have funding to allow the position to start the first of July/August.”
The position would cost $55,430 for the first-year salary and benefits. Cross said the hope is to get support not just from larger cities, but smaller ones in the county.
“We hope value of this position will be evident very quickly,” Cross said.