A new community advisory board working with the Fort Worth Police Department is wrestling with the challenges of homelessness and vagrancy in the city.
The Police Advisory Board, which convenes once each month — most recently on Monday — officially held its first meeting on May 30 with 14 members handpicked by Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes. While briefing the Fort Worth City Council on the status of the advisory board on Tuesday, Chief Noakes noted that the issue of homelessness has been brought up “time and time again.”
Tarrant County Homeless Coalition executive director Lauren King serves as one of the board’s members.
“My goal in being on the Advisory Board is to make sure the issue of homelessness is represented at the table,” she told The Dallas Express. “In our first couple of meetings, homelessness has arisen as a discussion topic as other board members see an increase in their communities.”
King said the board is currently “most interested in getting more information about the issue, including understanding how our community responds to homelessness and services available.”
“With this being the Police Advisory Board, board members were also interested in what the police response to homelessness is and what the best way to respond to various situations might be,” she explained.
Furthermore, King told The Dallas Express that “homelessness is increasing in Fort Worth and Tarrant County overall.” She said homelessness has risen 25% in Tarrant County since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Families are especially concerning, as all of our family shelters have been at or over capacity for more than a year,” she continued.
Chief Noakes told Fort Worth council members on Tuesday that the purpose of the Police Advisory Board is to help police officers more effectively respond to the input of the community they are responsible for protecting. One of the board’s functions is to field complaints and make them known to the Office of the Police Oversight Monitor.
“Accountability, collaboration, transparency is what we’re achieving,” said Noakes.
Homelessness and vagrancy have posed significant issues not only in Fort Worth but also in nearby Dallas. Roughly 75% of Dallas residents consider homelessness a “major” problem, according to a satisfaction survey conducted by the City.
Polling conducted by The Dallas Express has shown that residents favor a homelessness response strategy similar to Haven for Hope in San Antonio.
Through a partnership with the city government, Haven for Hope offers a “one-stop shop” for supportive services and emergency housing on a single campus. This type of strategy has yet to be pursued by the City of Dallas.
