The top local stories this morning from KERA News: The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance will share results of its annual homeless count this morning. The numbers come as Dallas city leaders make plans to shut down one of its largest homeless encampments by early May.
Tent City is several blocks long under I-45 near downtown. The camp’s shutting down partly because of recent violence. Others have complained Tent City poses a public health issue.
“The emergency shelters are at between 98 percent to 105 percent capacity,” Cindy Crain of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance told the Texas Standard. “So just like many urban areas across the United States, we have to do something.”
About 300 people live in the temporary camp, and Crain said resettling Tent City residents could be difficult because most don’t have IDs in order to apply for housing.
We’ll have more on the State of the Homeless address tonight on All Things Considered.
Other stories this morning:
- Dade Middle School in Dallas has a history of problems, so there’s an effort now to turn it into what’s known as a community school.
- KERA will pre-empt the Diane Rehm Show for NPR's live coverage of President Obama's address in Cuba at 9 a.m. We’ll also carry NPR’s live coverage of the primary and/or caucus results in Utah, Idaho and Arizona, beginning tonight at 10 p.m.
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.
