The city of Dallas purchased a plot of land in 2008 for $1.8 million, only for a well-established homeless encampment to overrun the area for nearly two decades. The 5.5-acre plot, one of many left vacant and littered with junk, was bought 18 years ago with hopes of addressing a flooding issue in the area. However, the project encountered major obstacles, leaving the land mostly untouched except for a handful of plots commandeered by homeless people who pitched tents.
Encampment Conditions
The pathway leading to the encampment is paved with patches of carpet remnants. Inside, several recreational vehicles provide shelter to the homeless living there. A homeless man who spoke to The Dallas Morning News said the campers had been bought years ago by a 'church owner' for the homeless, who then 'patched them up.' The man, who identified himself as Charlie Brown, said that a woman had been found dead in her tent on the encampment lot around two years ago. While theories have been offered among those living there, 'you don't hear anything about that,' he told the outlet. The city had also come by to bulldoze the lot just once, according to Brown.
Complaints and Homelessness Crisis
Around 24 complaints have been made to 311 since just 2023, most of which were regarding a 'homeless encampment' or 'code concern,' city records obtained by the outlet revealed. Homelessness in Dallas has been a rampant problem for years, with 311 receiving 11,000 complaints, a 45 percent increase, regarding the homeless in 2024. A report from the city in 2023 stated: 'Dallas has seen significant increases in homelessness, especially unsheltered homelessness over the last ten years. While the overall number of individuals experiencing sheltered homelessness in the city has been stable for over a decade, Dallas has seen a sharp rise in the number of individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness - from 242 in 2014 to more than 1,300 in 2022.' The rise in Dallas’ unsheltered homeless population over this time period outpaced the national average.
History of the Land Purchase
The land had been bought by the city with clear and planned intentions for the Trinity River Corridor Project on January 23, 2008, for $1,107,547 with bond funds from 1998, according to the outlet. Across the road on Manana Drive, another four and a half acres of land was also owned by the city after it was bought for $792,510 in 1983. Two years later, the stretch of land was included in plans for the Elm Fork Flood Protection Project, which hoped to direct water that wasn't reaching the Elm Fork fast enough partly due to 'undersized channels and culverts,' the Morning News reported. The city decided to fund the project alone after the US Army Corps of Engineers said that federal funding wouldn't be worth the investment in that area of town. Thus, a $30-million project was born.
Project Obstacles
The project included plans for the MoneyGram Soccer Park at Elm Fork, a dog park, wetlands, and levees, which would have required the realigning of the Manana, the outlet reported. Part of the levee was intended for the 5.5-acre plot of land, making use of a nearby channel that runs from the soccer complex to the Elm Fork and where the encampment now resides. Yet, numerous obstacles, including complaints from neighboring cities and a 2014 Corps review that claimed the project would have little impact on flooding in the area, meant that only the soccer complex was completed in the end, the outlet reported. Then, the remaining funds were instead poured into soccer fields and levees to the southwest, and the plot of land lay empty.
City Response
Kevin Oden, the director of the Department of Emergency Management and Crisis Response, said that 90 percent of the high-priority complaints had responses within 24 hours and 80 percent stay clear for 30 days, according to the outlet. Yet, Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn said at a city council meeting: 'Right now, it is not happening. At least not in my district. The residents are so fed up and they are fed up of hearing homelessness is decreasing when they see it every single day. They report it, it gets closed and it does not get addressed. These are people who truly need help and it's not happening. You just started, I'm not complaining to you about it. I'm hoping you're going to take care of it.' The Daily Mail reached out to the City of Dallas for comment.
