Panelists discuss the changing face of homelessness today and views on ways to help and to stop chronic homelessness. Check below for soundbites.
Sound Bites
“We created a 10 year plan to end chronic homelessness.”
– Mike Rawlings – Appointed by the Mayor of Dallas as Dallas’ Homeless Czar
“We are one of the most affluent in Texas, but we do have a homeless problem… People who used to donate to the shelter, are now living in the shelter.”
– Lynne Sipiora – Executive Director of the Samaritan Inn in Collin County, TX
“We want to get to the core of what causes all of this… Everyone has to have a basis to which they are operating… I can’t live a life that is tearing me down, at the same time I am looking to build myself up, otherwise the contradiction will get the best of me every time.”
– Bill Thompson – Executive Director of the Union Gospel Mission
We need to put homeless people in neighborhoods… Political issues and nimbyism (not in my backyard) is stopping this.
-Mike Rawlings
Myths about homeless: “People who are homeless don’t want help… they want to be in that place… they don’t want jobs..”
Fact: “We have people who are waiting in line to get services.”
– Mike Faenza – President and CEO of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance