Three months into Dallas' bold experiment in helping the homeless, reviews are mixed and concerns are many.
LARA SOLT/DMN
People wait outside with their belongings for the doors to open for dinner at The Bridge. More than 2,000 meals a day are served at the shelter in downtown Dallas, which opened in May.The Bridge, the city's homeless assistance center that opened in May, has kept hundreds of homeless off streets and out of jails and hospitals. Crime is down. People are getting the help they desperately need.
But at what cost?
TOM FOX/DMN
The Bridge has an open-door policy, which critics say leads to a security problem. But operators say the facility helps people who would otherwise be loitering downtown.Some patrons and employees say The Bridge is too crowded, chaotic, even dangerous because of bullies and thieves. And it's costing an estimated $300,000 a year more to run the place than planned. So more public money may be needed for a facility that has already cost taxpayers more than $20 million.
Through it all, Mike Faenza is resolute. The Bridge's top executive stands by his open-door philosophy despite serving twice as many people as the center was built to handle.
JIM MAHONEY/DMN
'You can't beat this place,' said Daniel Brightman, 72, who initially was tempted to leave The Bridge because of people cursing and fighting."We have no plan to put people on the street," he said. "It would be immoral to do that."
Mr. Faenza, president and chief executive of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, which runs the center, said The Bridge has seen plenty of successes among the hundreds of people it has drawn to the corner of St. Paul and Corsicana streets.
Mike Rawlings, Dallas' homeless czar, agrees.
"My thing is, are we changing lives? Are we moving people up and out? That's what I see taking place."
Bridge patron Michael Curtis has a different view. He sees people coming in drunk and with weapons.
"It's definitely not safe there," he said. If a serious threat arose, he said, "Before security would ever know it, you're going to be dead."
A place to eat, sleep
The Bridge serves the chronically homeless - people who have lived on the streets long-term and have severe mental illnesses, addictions and other health problems.
About 600 people sleep there each night, most of them in an outdoor pavilion or in a concrete courtyard. More than 2,000 meals a day are served under a contract with The Stewpot, a downtown charity.
"To get people who weren't taking medications, who have a brain disease, to get them to stay here is amazing," said Mr. Faenza, who points to other encouraging numbers.
More than 500 new people have enrolled in mental-health services, he said. About 125 people have found jobs. And 90 will have moved into homes by the end of September.
Police say there has been an 18 percent drop in downtown crime and a reduction in the number of homeless people on the streets since The Bridge opened May 20.
Cullen Crowder, who became homeless after losing a job at a nursing home, has gone from sleeping in a hidden space on the side of the Houston Street bridge to working as a supervisor at a downtown Subway restaurant.
"I love it," he said of his job. "It's the better part of my day. I meet a lot of people, especially from City Hall."
Mr. Crowder said he had been so depressed and lonely that he drank and took drugs to escape. He said a caseworker at The Bridge gave him hope.
Another resident, 72-year-old Daniel Brightman, planned to leave after he first visited The Bridge because people stayed up all night talking, cursing and fighting. But a caseworker encouraged him to stay.
"Now, it's all right," said Mr. Brightman, who lives in the transitional housing and plans to move to an apartment next month. "It's getting better and better. ... You can't beat this place. It helps you when you're down and out."
Fights, thefts
Despite its successes, The Bridge faces continued concerns about safety from homeless people and current and former employees.
By design, the center draws people with severe mental-health problems, addictions and criminal backgrounds, including more than a dozen sex offenders. Although officers from the downtown Dallas safety patrol search bags and use metal-detecting wands, some homeless people have sneaked in knives, residents and current and former employees said.
While officials stress that the center is safer than being on the streets, police reports detail routine fights and thefts.
This month, a fight broke out between two men who were watching television. The 48-year-old victim, Larney Jackson, ended up in a hospital with a neck injury. Police arrested Anthony Howard, 23, on aggravated-assault charges.
"The staff heard this commotion and ran back there and called security," Mr. Faenza said. "The man who was injured said he wanted to go to the hospital and he wanted to press charges against the fellow guest who had punched him."
Last weekend, staff members found a homeless man dead in his bed.
"It was totally unexpected," Mr. Faenza said of the death of Keith Perry, 41.
'A hostile environment'
Several staff members have reported being struck, threatened, cursed at, or spat upon by residents who they said faced few consequences.
Kai Stansberry called police on June 7 after being attacked by a woman who "jumped on her and began pulling her hair unprovoked," according to a police report.
Mistie Wolfe said a man spat on her one day. Another threatened her.
Donald Clemons said staffers had difficulty getting Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance management's approval to kick out troublemakers.
"To me, it was just a hostile environment," he said.
All three former staffers worked for PATH Partners, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit agency that provided social services at The Bridge. PATH suggested in a June 18 letter to The Bridge's management screening guests and reducing the number of guests per staffer. The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance terminated the group's contract shortly after.
The Rev. Bruce Buchanan, executive director of The Stewpot, said often he faces a belligerent crowd waiting for meals.
"You've got people who've been out in the sun who are hungry, or angry about something," he said. "I've been threatened, and loud, abusive language is routine there."
Mr. Faenza disputes any notion that The Bridge is dangerous and said homeless people would not stay there if they felt unsafe. He acknowledges that the population The Bridge works with can be difficult because of the severity of their mental health problems and other disabilities. But he emphasized that the point of the facility is to attract people who many shelters have permanently banned.
Dallas Police Deputy Chief Vince Golbeck said there have been no major incidents at The Bridge.
"There's going to be volatility. You've got to look at the population you're dealing with," he said.
Need for screening
The sheer number of people drawn to The Bridge has created problems, and some say there need to be limits.
Mr. Buchanan said screening out people who are not homeless and come to prey on vulnerable people may help reduce the numbers.
Homeless advocate James Waghorne, president of the Dallas Homeless Neighborhood Association, said he fears that the overcrowding alienates people in need.
"I think sometimes we let our compassion get in the way of doing it the right way," he said. "We try to do too much at one time."
The Bridge operates under a philosophy that places few demands on people. The idea is to make the place welcoming without requiring patrons to enroll in social services, so they first come in off the streets and eventually become ready to accept help.
But Mr. Clemons, the former PATH employee, said at The Bridge that approach created an atmosphere in which many people sit in the courtyard most of the day.
Mr. Rawlings counters that hundreds of homeless would be back on the street if The Bridge limited the number of people it served.
"We could close the doors after 400 people. Let's just say we're going to do that - then we'll have people say we don't care about people," Mr. Rawlings said.
Short on resources
Approaches to handling crowds can differ, but there seems little doubt the numbers of needy have strained The Bridge's resources.
The Bridge's expenses are running about $300,000 over annual budget projections, Mr. Faenza said. He said the homeless alliance, which receives $3 million annually from the city and $1 million annually from the county plus private funds, has not decided how to address the situation.
Most advocates agree the ultimate solution is to place homeless people in homes.
Mr. Rawlings this month outlined a five-year plan to open 700 homes for chronically homeless people within five years. The Dallas City Council will vote on the plan Sept. 10.
But until more homes are available, hundreds of people probably will have nowhere to stay but The Bridge. And that raises some tough questions about how to care for them.
Mr. Rawlings said, "I think it's a bit of a rock and a hard place."
Staff writer Scott Farwell contributed to this report.
