Here’s a variation on an old saying: If you want something done, make it a priority and allocate the appropriate resources.

In recent weeks, homeless encampments near the library and City Hall in downtown Dallas have thinned out. No, we’re not declaring victory over homelessness, but we are declaring progress. And this step forward also proves a point this editorial board has made for years – that more could be done to close downtown homeless encampments out of compassion if the city would focus on it.

In a recent memo to the City Council, acting City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said mental health and reintegration assistance teams regularly contacted homeless people in the south part of downtown last month, offering them housing and other rehabilitation services. Then earlier this month, the city closed the encampment at the downtown library and found permanent housing and support services for those individuals.

These actions were long overdue. Large, visible homeless encampments in public spaces pose a serious challenge throughout the city, including the most conspicuous and embarrassing encampments outside the doors of the downtown library and City Hall. The city’s inability to address this reality in any meaningful way threatened to undermine significant public and private investment and the planned redevelopment of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

Statistically, the region is making progress in the fight against homelessness. Based on the most recent count conducted earlier this year, homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties has declined for the third year in a row, and Housing Forward, which coordinates homelessness response strategies in Dallas and Collin counties, announced a goal to reduce street homelessness by 50% by 2026 from an all-time high in 2021.

But the point-in-time count is not a perfect inventory, reflecting at best a trend line, not an overall number. Without serious strategies to close encampments, reclaim neighborhoods, and help the homeless find permanent housing and services, the region’s homelessness strategy is incomplete.

In the memo, Tolbert said the city plans to take further steps to secure other cleared encampments and prevent more homeless people from settling in those areas. She said clearance efforts are underway elsewhere downtown as well, but did not elaborate.

We hope the City and others recognize that this action cannot be viewed as a one-time action. The work to stop people from setting up encampments must be persistent, compassionate and determined, even if it requires additional enforcement action.

In the long term, the region’s efforts to reduce homelessness must evolve to more effectively serve those who are chronically homeless and stay ahead of this ongoing challenge.

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