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May 20, 2008 6:02 pm US/Central
New Homeless Shelter Aims To Help All Of Dallas
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Five years after passing a $23 million bond package, Dallas has a new center for the homeless. It's called "The Bridge," a facility geared to get people off the streets.
Some say getting the homeless off the street is a good thing, if not for their own sake, then for the sake of downtown merchants and residents who say homelessness has become a public relations nightmare for the City of Dallas.
Donald Ward has become a familiar homeless face on the streets of downtown Dallas. "There are a lot of people who've been on the streets so long that it's become a way of life for 'em and they don't want to do anything to try and change it," he says.
But Ward isn't the guy downtown clothing boutique owner Stefani Shultz is worried about. Shultz told CBS 11 News that homeless panhandlers, drug addicts and the mentally ill are having the most negative impact on the downtown quality of life.
"Those are the more dangerous and the ones that I think are not good for the downtown area. They're the ones that are gonna be out on the streets still," she says. The City of Dallas opened 'The Bridge' just a half mile from Shultz' boutique location.
While Shultz and others like her aren't very excited about the homeless center officials with the city are. "We're gonna be able to welcome people, help them stabilize and help them plan for the future," said Jay Dunn who works at The Bridge.
Despite the opening of the new facility there were still hundreds of homeless roaming the streets of downtown Tuesday.
One of those people, named Robert, says the new center won't erase Dallas' old and festering homeless impact. "There are some homeless people that that's the only place that they're comfortable," he says. "Anything else is outside of their 'comfort zone' so they're gonna stay out on the streets. They're gonna sleep under bridges. They're gonna do what they've been doing."
Some say there are two goals for The Bridge. One, to enhance the lives of people who live on the streets and two, to enhance the quality of life in downtown Dallas be getting people off the street.
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