DALLAS — Dallas City Council Member Jesse Moreno is calling on city staff to adopt new protocols after a recent walkthrough and investigation at the city-owned former Family Gateway building.
It revealed an unsecured door, unsafe conditions, and more than 20 people and animals inside, according to a memo from Moreno to interim Dallas City Manager Kim Tolbert last week.
The building at 711 S. St. Paul Street has been vacant for some time. According to Tolbert’s memo in response to Moreno, the operator of the former Family Gateway facility canceled their contract and facility last summer, the city’s Office of Homeless Solutions provided on-site security through city council approval of the contract cancellation, and the city’s Building Services Department boarded and secured the facility until it could be sold or redeveloped.
“As work was being done to mitigate the impact of homelessness on South St. Paul Street for an unrelated project, there were concerns that the Old Family Gateway building was unsecure and being accessed by unauthorized inhabitants,” Moreno wrote in his memo.
The recent walkthrough found a door at the building opened, an alarm that appeared to be deactivated, and feces, urine and trash throughout the building, and graffiti on the exterior, according to Moreno’s memo. Moreno represents the area where the building is located on the city council and chairs the city council’s housing and homelessness solutions committee.
“These conditions would normally be pursued by the City’s Code Compliance department if this were a privately-owned facility,” Moreno wrote, “I am concerned that the City has not maintained for our facilities the same high standard we hold for our residents and business owners when it comes to proper maintenance of a building.”
Moreno called for the building to be secured and cleaned, for a third-party review to assess the security of the building, a review to determine the viability of selling the facility, no-trespass signage, a report from city staff on actions taken to secure the building, for the city’s Office of Homeless Solutions to engage weekly with the unhoused population in the area surrounding the building, follow-up by the city’s code compliance department, graffiti abatement, and regular updates on the status of the building.
In response to Moreno’s memo, Tolbert outlined next steps including daily safety inspections and patrols in her own memo.
“We are committed to enhancing building safety and ensuring the safety of our residents and neighborhoods through additional measures,” Tolbert wrote. “We will provide ongoing updates as we work through next steps.”
Tolbert’s memo also outlined city staff response at the building.
“In reviewing a summary of activity at and near 711 S. St. Paul Street, the revelation of a potential breach of the building was made last week while Integrated Public Safety Solutions (IPS) assisted the Office of Homeless Solutions (OHS) with the closure and site hardening of a recurring homeless encampment on South St. Paul Street north of the property,” she wrote in the May 31 memo. “During the camp closure, staff from multiple departments noticed activity around the back gate of the building. Upon further inspection of the exterior of the area, we learned that persons were accessing the building by exploiting a side door lock at the property.”
Tolbert said the city’s Building Services Department made an initial visit to the site May 24 to check the building exterior for any visual signs of any breach or other hazards and then coordinated with the Dallas Police Department and Office of Homeless Solutions staff to make repairs and check the interior May 30.
Dallas police, Office of Homeless Solutions staff and Building Services staff were dispatched to the property May 30 when “multiple individuals and pets were discovered and removed by officers, according to Tolbert’s memo.
Exterior gate repairs were subsequently made and doors and windows re-secured with plywood and additional locks installed, according to Tolbert’s memo.
In a statement to WFAA, Moreno called on the city to do a better job of maintaining its facilities.
“This is very simple: if it is not safe for City staff to conduct an internal or external assessment of a building, then it is not safe for residents and business owners who walk past the building every day,” Moreno said. “I will continue to hold our staff to the same high standard for building maintenance that we hold for all other residents of our City. I will be asking that staff adopt protocols to ensure this unacceptable situation does not happen in the future, here or at any other City facility. Finally, this situation evidences the significant impact that homelessness can have when we are not vigilant in addressing the problem.”
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