A Dallas county commissioner has vowed to oppose a budget, claiming that money earmarked for homelessness prevention was promised, then later excluded.
Funds that should have been earmarked for homelessness prevention disappeared from the suggested voter approval tax rate budget, said County Commissioner Andy Sommerman.
"If it's not in there, then at least one commissioner — this one — is going to say no to it," he said. "Homelessness is the fight for the jail and it is the fight for Parkland."
He said he requested millions in funding to curb homelessness and relieve that pipeline to the jail.
Housing Forward was meant to receive $5 million and Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center $1.5 million.
The budget team explained this week during a hearing and presentation that the money isn't specified in a line-item, but is available for allocation in a separate pot.
Deflection centers, which process low-level criminal offenses quicker than jail detainment, and a system to rate employees for merit raises also did not get specific allocated funding.
More than fifty five hundred people in the jail last year self-identified as homeless.
Mental health and homelessness contribute to jail crowding and recidivism, so people affected should be a budget priority, Sommerman said.
"It is essential to everything that we do at the county," he said. "And we are the fire line for services. And most services begin and end at mental health. We decrease crime, we decrease health concerns, we decrease so much with the helping of people."
The voter approval property tax rate and budget hearing continues at 10 a.m. Sept. 9 at 500 Elm St. in Dallas.
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