Dallas' Day Resource Center as a Temporary Shelter

Dallas City Council members have moved a proposal to vote on the downtown Day Resource Center to be used as temporary shelter for the city's homeless patrons. New date of the vote has been re-scheduled to December 12th, 2007. This will also affect the city sponsored person's living at the Dallas Life Foundation, which states that they must pay-to-stay after December 12th.

The vote has been moved in lew of a changed city ordinance. The city ordinance calls for all pay-to-stay shelters to allow people with no money to stay the night at no charge if the outside temperature drops below 40 degrees. In recent years, the ordinance has been changed twice already. The first time it was proposed it said that if the temperature drops below 60 degrees then these pay-to-stay shelters must open their doors to the homeless.

This first proposal was established in 2005, due to the deaths of around 20+ people whom died in inclement weather a year earlier. Then in 2006, Dallas City Council members changed the ordinance to 50 degrees. However, this year they changed it to a freezing 40 degrees which is extremely cold for the elderly homeless and children.

In this reporter's opinion, City Council members need to have a heart not only to the wealthy but the lower classes as well. And Council members should always look at the big picture and take the past problems as pending future problems for the city ordinance that has been explained in this article does NOT include the wind chill factor which can lower the outside temperature that is actually felt on the skin up to a stifling 10 degree difference.

Dallas County has been overlooking the city's homeless problems for many years and the only reason that they are beginning to do something about it in the year 2007 is because the Federal Government has been involved in this pending investigation over the "hoarding" of tax dollars and funding for homeless agencies whom have not seen a penny of until late this year.

I tried to get the answers to this question and many others, however not to this reporter's surprise, every Dallas City Council member refused to comment on the subjects. Perhaps the Dallas City Council has a closed door policy on talking to the press about life-threatening issues such as this one or maybe they are just a little notebook shy.