Dallas County commissioners have agreed to consider whether to present to voters a homeless response and public safety tax.
County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins and commissioners Andy Sommerman and Theresa Daniel on Tuesday voted to move forward. Commissioners John Wiley Price and Elba Garcia voted to not explore that possibility at a meeting scheduled for next week, which is meant to allow discussion about whether to add the homelessness tax to the November ballot for voters to decide.
The nonprofit Housing Forward proposed to commissioners
in May a tax to consistently support homeless response outreach. Housing Forward works with the All Neighbors Coalition — a collaborative network of over 150 public, private, and nonprofit organizations — to end homelessness in the community.
Housing Forward president and CEO Sarah Kahn said it can move 4,500 more households off the streets and offer access to treatment, stable housing and stronger neighborhoods if commissioners agree to present the proposal to voters, and it passes.
"That is what residents are calling on us to do," she said. "And this proposal gives them the opportunity to move from managing homelessness to actually solving it.
"Really what we're asking of commissioners is just to let the voters decide.”
The tax for homelessness services and public safety efforts would raise property tax bills.
Garcia said everybody says they want it in polls, but when asked how much they would pay, most say they are not willing to pay anything.
"And that's when my constituents ask me, 'Dr. Garcia, how much is it going to cost me?' It's not going to be a slice of pizza or a cup of coffee," she said. "It's going to like $200 or $300 more a year.”
Budget Officer Ronica Watkins said that based on the 2025 adopted tax rate — .215500 per $100 valuation — an estimated tax bill would be $534.22 per year on a $247,900 home.
The new proposed ad valorem tax rate would be up to $0.25315 per $100 valuation "for the purpose of funding programs that measurably reduce homelessness and resolve homeless encampments, increase access to mental health treatment, support programs that provide stable housing, and improve Dallas County public safety services."
County auditor Tom Hicks estimated the extra revenue from the tax could raise about $150 million for homelessness services and public safety use.
Price had said in May that the proposal "doesn't seem well thought out."
The county jail already costs $20 million monthly to operate and Parkland Hospital spends $5 million caring for unhoused people.
Both are places where people experiencing homelessness often end up, he had said.
A child care tax was also proposed.
Both must be offered as a single ballot proposal after a state-mandated 3.5% levy increase.
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