Ellen Magnis fears what’s to come. She leads Family Gateway Inc., an affordable housing nonprofit in Dallas, and says the number of people coming to them for help has skyrocketed in recent months. 

“Immediately, when we get someone into shelter, the first step is figuring out their exit strategy,” Magnis said. For Family Gateway’s clients, it typically takes about one to two years of housing, plus transitional services, to reach that point, she explained. 

There are several reasons behind growing homelessness in Dallas. On June 26, the Texas Workforce commission ended the $300 weekly payments tacked onto standard unemployment benefits in response to the pandemic. Then some two weeks ago, the commission also cut off access to expanded federal unemployment benefits. 

Slashing the financial support for unemployed Texans also came as the nationwide ban on evictions ended on Aug. 26. (Dallas County eviction courts have defied the federal moratorium and moved forward with eviction proceedings throughout the more than 12 months the eviction ban was in place.)

As a result, Dallas County is enduring a crisis within a crisis: The county already had the highest rate of homelessness of any metro area in Texas before the pandemic, which only got worse as the pandemic wore on. Now, the combination of lost unemployment cash and a return to pre-pandemic eviction policies threatens to deepen the problem even more. 

A new way to avoid homelessness is possibly just around the corner, though. On Oct. 1, applications will open for a new collaborative initiative between the Dallas Housing Authority, Dallas County, the city of Dallas and several other North Texas agencies to provide homeless people with housing vouchers and specialized case management services. 

The Dallas Real-Time Rapid Rehousing initiative aims to get 2,700 homeless people into permanent housing within two years. 

More than 700 vouchers will go towards providing families, domestic violence victims and people with chronic health issues with a year’s worth of subsidized rent. The remaining 2,000-some vouchers will go to chronically homeless people. 

Voucher recipients are required to participate in services like counseling and employment skills training designed to help them rent independently after one-year voucher expires. The $72 million initiative is funded by federal Housing and Urban Development dollars, contributions from participating public agencies and private donations.