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Kim Horner
Staff Writer
Dallas Morning News
Dallas, TX

TOPIC: Examine the struggles of people who are homeless to find treatment for mental illnesses and substance use in Texas.

Battling Homelessness in Dallas Requires More Housing, Mental Health Services, Advocates Say
In cardboard boxes under bridges, in tattered tents in the woods and in vacant downtown buildings live some of the hardest people to help. They are the chronically homeless, those who suffer from mental illnesses and addictions and have been on the streets repeatedly or for years. Few are getting the care they need. Instead, they wander year after year between shelters, psychiatric hospitals, drug and alcohol treatment, and jail.

As Mental Health Support Wanes, Many Doomed to Homelessness
Richard Antwine's last home was the county jail. The 47-year-old ended up there, again, after another round of homeless shelters, boarding homes, and psychiatric hospitals. This time, it was because he failed to report to his parole officer. He said he missed the appointment because he was hospitalized. He has severe depression and was hearing voices telling him to hurt himself. His court-appointed lawyer said he doesn't belong in jail. "Somebody dropped the ball somewhere," she said.

'Frequent Fliers' Run up Dallas County's Homeless Tab
Dallas County taxpayers spend about $50 million a year sheltering, treating and jailing the homeless. Perhaps half of that is for the 600 to 1,000 toughest cases – many of whom visit emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, jails so often they're called "frequent fliers." These very ill people repeatedly cycle through a massive, uncoordinated system of local, state, federal and private institutions at an alarming speed and alarming cost. And despite the millions being spent, many of these chronically homeless people remain in shelters and cardboard boxes.

Seattle's 1811 Eastlake Project Puts Housing First, Saves Lives and Money
An attractive blue and gray apartment building with views of the Space Needle saved taxpayers $4 million in one year – simply by giving hardcore homeless alcoholics a place to live. This home for the homeless has attracted visitors from across the country – including Dallas – looking for ways to move the most seriously ill off the streets and cut costs. But it has detractors because it doesn't require residents to stop drinking.

Unwelcome Mat Out for Project to House Chronically Homeless
Developer Larry Hamilton has been working for months to turn the empty Plaza Hotel south of downtown Dallas into homes for the homeless. But it's been much tougher than he imagined. Hamilton and other developers complain of roadblocks even as they try to carry out the city's goal of opening 700 apartments for the homeless by 2014. The housing, which would come with mental health and addiction services, is considered the most effective way to clear the streets of the hard-core homeless.

A proposal to cut 50 beds at the region's public psychiatric hospital is generating concern from North Texas officials.

The first meeting of a task force seeking public input about moving the homeless into north Oak Cliff ended with an announcement that left neighbors furious: 17 homeless people are moving into Cliff Manor starting next week.

The move to provide 700 homes for the homeless across Dallas has left residents in many neighborhoods complaining of being blindsided with no advance notice.

The recent uproar over Cliff Manor in north Oak Cliff reveals the main political hurdle for solving Dallas' homeless problem: Even though experts say permanent supportive housing is the key, neighborhoods aren't supporting it.

(link no longer available)
Drank, the anti-energy drink sold at convenience stores, is generating concern among Dallas-area mental health experts who say it's made to resemble popular illegal homemade cough syrup concoction known as "purple drank." EVANS CAGLAGE/DMN Drank bills itself as an "Extreme Relaxation Beverage." 

Connie Prilliman found her voice in the ERICA II, a device that tracks her eyes' movement to let her choose words that are said in a computerized voice. 'She'll be able to do much more than she's ever been able to do,' says her brother.

Plans to move chronically homeless people into a north Oak Cliff public-housing tower are on hold indefinitely, Dallas City Council member Dave Neumann said Thursday.

The Dallas Housing Authority will continue with plans to move up to 18 homeless people into a north Oak Cliff public housing tower, the agency's leader said Tuesday after a heated meeting with concerned neighbors the night before.

Dallas housing authority plans to open 160 homes for homeless, formerly jailed (link no longer available). The Dallas Housing Authority has plans for five new initiatives that would provide homes for 160 chronically homeless and formerly incarcerated people.

When people come to The Bridge, the first thing they have to get used to is the long lines.

 
Doctors predicted Billy Thomas would never walk again after a car crash left him brain-damaged at age 6. But the Cedar Hill boy shocked his family later when he not only walked - he ran.

More than 2,700 athletes went home with medals this weekend after competing in the Special Olympics Texas 2010 Summer Games at the University of Texas at Arlington's Maverick Stadium.

Special Olympics athletes from across the state will compete in the annual Summer Games this weekend in Arlington - and they need people to cheer for them.

Starting next month, 100 chronically homeless people will have a new place to call home.

Daisy Cano stood before a classroom of parents in Pleasant Grove and listed the ways they can get help so that job losses, evictions or other financial stresses do not become overwhelming."If you know that you're having a hard time, you know you can get services," said Cano, social services coordinator for AVANCE-Dallas. "If you're stressed, you can go to counseling. All of these agencies are just a phone call away."

The Dallas Children's Advocacy Center says it cannot keep up with the growing number of children who need counseling after suffering physical or sexual abuse.

The Dallas Children's Advocacy Center says it cannot keep up with the growing number of children who need counseling after suffering physical or sexual abuse.

The headlines about "cheese" overdose deaths have faded, but Dallas-area treatment centers still struggle to keep up with a high number of teens as young as 13 addicted to the mix of heroin and sleep aids.

Fifty of Dallas' most costly homeless "frequent fliers" - people who repeatedly cycle through institutions such as hospitals and jail at a cost to taxpayers - could soon be finding homes, just south of Deep Ellum.

Family violence has risen 5 percent in Dallas even as overall crime has dropped, Mayor Tom Leppert said Monday at the opening of the Conference on Crimes Against Women being held downtown through Wednesday.

A Dallas task force recommended Tuesday that the city launch a major campaign to educate the public about housing that officials want to build for the chronically homeless.

Four proposed apartment projects would move Dallas much closer to its goal of creating 700 homes for the chronically homeless.

Four proposed housing developments for the homeless failed to receive state tax credits needed to help finance the projects Thursday

Background: Ten-year-old Alexis Diaz cannot talk, bathe or feed herself because of her severe autism. But the Duncanville girl, who also lost one eye to cancer, made significant progress in a local horse therapy program last year.

More than 100 volunteers will visit shelters and encampments tonight for the annual count and survey of the homeless in Dallas and Collin counties.

The Duncanville Outreach Ministry usually provides emergency rent and food but sought special approval to provide riding lessons for Alexis Diaz, 10, through the Therapeutic Riding of Texas, or TROT, program in Cedar Hill.

Lawanna Rogers, clean and sober for four months after a 20-year addiction to crack cocaine, calls a friend to talk about her new apartment. In five months, she went from a mat at The Bridge shelter in Dallas to a bed in a cubicle there to her own apartment.

 
Salvatore Caudo lifted weights last month at a workout station he created from donated equipment at Soul's Harbor. Caudo, a former crack addict who is in recovery at the shelter, said the exercise has helped him stay away from drugs.

Sporting a sharp black tuxedo, Mack Choice takes meal orders from homeless people at the SoupMobile's fifth annual Christmas Angel Project at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. At the same event a year earlier, Choice was one of the guests.

Casey Rogers couldn't believe what he saw when a homeless man tapped on the window of his family's car outside a Burger King near downtown Dallas one day, asking for money.

Stories of abused children can leave anyone feeling helpless. But there are many ways to make a difference in the kids' lives.

Megan Honey was only 4 when Child Protective Services took her from her home.

Officials with The Bridge, Dallas' homeless assistance center, have not given up on the $1 million the state cut out of its annual budget.

Teacher Andrew LaBounty (front) of Allen works on a game character graphics with student Amelia Schabel of Lake Dallas during a class at the nonPareil Institute.

James Brennan launched into a joke about his mental disability as soon as he took the stage at "Make Me Laugh Mondays" at the Dyer Street Bar.

They weren't raising money. They weren't running a race. Thousands of people participating in a 1.5-mile walk through Dallas' West End on Saturday wanted just one thing.

The Dallas Housing Authority announced plans Tuesday to provide 245 homes for the homeless - including at least 150 to families with children - at seven area apartment complexes.

Texas already ranks 49th in the nation in spending on mental health care and now faces steep cuts because of a budget shortfall of up to $27 billion.

First, they stayed with family. Then, they rented a trailer. Finally, they went to a shelter.

Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped in 2002 and missing for nine months, was in Dallas on Monday to tell law enforcement workers about her "sojourn into hell" and urge investigators to never give up on finding a missing child.

The number of local teens seeking treatment for heroin addiction remains high three years after a series of fatal overdoses from a mixture of heroin and sleep aids, according to a new report released by the Greater Dallas Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.