A task force formed in Dallas County after protests over the death of George Floyd has released a final list of recommendations.
The task force included city managers, religious leaders and the leaders of several non-profits.
"Our initial Zoom call wasn’t just about feeling heard, it was about developing an opportunity for real systemic change,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins wrote in a statement.
The group does not recommend "de-funding" police but cities in Dallas County should change the way they respond to homelessness and mental health calls.
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Among the recommendations, the task force says police should not be the first ones to respond to a mental health call unless a gun is involved. Instead, social workers, counselors and other mental health professionals would respond. If a gun is involved, those non-sworn employees would "provide support" to police officers.
The task force says cities should also increase funding in their budgets for next year to allow for more "alternatives to police response." Two people who spoke with the group represented similar programs started in Sacramento, California and Eugene, Oregon.
In Sacramento, MH First includes two doctors, other health care workers and volunteers who have suffered from mental health disorders.
"We have had no shortage of medical professionals who have volunteered for us on 12-hour shifts overnight because they, too, understand the importance of keeping our patients out of the hands of police, when folks need care and not handcuffs,” Director Asantewaa Boykin told the task force.
The program in Eugene, Oregon, known as CAHOOTS, provides counseling and crisis intervention, drug and alcohol treatment, as well as medical and dental care for low-income residents.
The task force recommended lifting bans on homeless camps, laws against sleeping in cars and bans on panhandling. The group says citations for those activities can make it more difficult for people to find work or permanent housing.
The founder of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, Maria Foscarinis, says sweeps through homeless camps have become common in Dallas. She says that leads to people moving from camp to camp near downtown and Fair Park.
“Understanding the need for communities to regulate public spaces, encampments should only be removed through clear processes, with adequate notice, and a requirement that the affected persons be provided adequate alternative housing," she told the task force.
She says Indianapolis, Indiana and Charleston, South Carolina have begun working with people living in camps to plan for temporary housing before a sweep. The task force says homelessness is being "criminalized" in Dallas County because people staying in a camp are cited, and those citations can prevent people from finding a job or temporary housing.
The group also says Dallas County should establish "safe parking lots" for people who live in their cars, saying Eugene and Oakland, California have started doing the same thing.
The Texas Tenants' Union says 68,000 households in Dallas cannot afford more than $400 in rent, and almost half of tenants in Dallas pay more than 30% of their income in rent. The group says Dallas County should extend a moratorium on evictions that began as part of the county's response to COVID-19, create a $28.8 million fund to provide a $600 rent subsidy to 4,000 families, and use zoning to create more affordable housing units.