Hundreds of homeless encampments in Dallas city parks, more resources needed — and limited funds

Dallas Park and Recreation officials say they need more resources to deal with homeless encampments across the city's parks. But elected officials questioned where those funds would come from.

And one said park officials were casting the city's unhoused population in "a light that we should all be scared of."

Park officials said there were 350 encampments in city parks from October 2022 to September 2023. They also said there were over 1,000 visitations to Dallas parks from October 2023 to just a month ago during Monday's Parks, Trails and the Environment Committee.

"Our entire operation is pretty much impacted by the unsheltered, the encampments and what we need to do as it is related to making sure our parks are clean and well maintained," M. Renee Johnson, a park department assistant director, said during the meeting.

Johnson said that includes park amenities being stolen or damaged — which also means the city is on the hook for replacing those items — cleaning up vandalism and litter.

The department's Facility Services Division also removes or secures electrical outlets "to reduce the unsheltered from gathering at pavilions," according to a briefing presented at Monday's meeting.

"These are locations that the unsheltered will just really try and stay, pretty much, all night to charge up items and things like that, so we try to make sure those areas are secure," Johnson said.

'Everyone follow the rules'

Throughout all the explanation of how the city goes about limiting unsheltered individuals from its parks, Johnson paused in the middle of her presentation to highlight this:

"Everyone is welcome to our parks system...it is a very inclusive environment," Johnson said. "All that we ask is that everyone follow the rules."

Johnson said the department has no intention of criminalizing the city's unsheltered population, but officials wanted to "make sure everybody enjoys the park and that it is a safe environment for all families."

She also added the rules everyone needs to follow include no sleeping in city parks — and no setting up shelters.

Dallas Park Rangers and City Marshals monitor encampments on "hotspot" lists and report any "re-entry" to camp sites within 24 hours, according to the briefing. The city's forestry team works to clear overgroom plants and vegetation to create sightlines to other areas of the park.

Johnson said that, even though it wasn't in the briefing, she wanted to note "the more engagement we have in our parks, for sure then we have less unsheltered, or encampments or things that are happening that are really mischievous."

District 9 Council Member Paula Blackmon got straight to the point in her line of questions to park officials.

"How much are you asking?" Blackmon asked. "Because I've got a library to keep open...why can't you look in your budget and find the money that is needed?"

The city council passed an over $5 billion budget in September. That included money to save the Skillman Southwest library branch from closing.

Johnson said the department is looking to see what equipment they have for another team — but it also needs an additional four staff members. John Jenkins, the department's director, told elected officials that funds for cleaning up overgrown vegetation was desperately needed.

And ultimately, Blackmon wanted to know how paying for additional team members — and the landscaping — would get to the real cause for why encampments spring up in the first place.

"This council can't keep throwing money at cleaning up," Blackmon said. "We're going to have to get to the root cause and get people housed who can be housed."

'Really crappy of our city'

Even though Johnson — and later in the meeting, Jenkins — reiterated that "everyone is welcome" at Dallas parks, one council member wasn't convinced that was the case.

"I think there is a tone to this that I really don't appreciate," Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaldua said. "A lot of what has been highlighted has left an inference that our unsheltered are ultimately a nuisance."

Bazaldua, who represents District 7 on the council, said that wasn't the truth — and that the briefing was "conflating causation and correlation." He also said park officials didn't present any information about other criminal activity — outside of homeless encampment visits — at other parks.

"I could go to any of the parks in my district and show you where there is a regular occurrence of violating rules such as alcohol and smoking on our parks system," Bazladua said. "To make it as if the presence of unsheltered individuals makes our parks unsafe, or less safe, is nice to say disingenuous, but I think it's really crappy of our city."

Jenkins said his department goes up against a lot of people who feel differently.

"...And we have to tell them, no they have every right to be in the park, just like you," Jenkins said. "All we ask is that everyone follows the rules."

Jenkins added his team wasn't asked to brief the committee about "all the issues that cause problems and crime in our parks." Even then, he said the main issue was not homeless individuals.

Bazaldua said Dallas has specific policies that criminalize homelessness — like a ban on sleeping in the city's parks.

"When we have enforcement mechanisms that are meant to be discriminatory...that's outrageous to me," Bazaldua said.

District 10 Council Member Kathy Stewart, who chairs the committee, requested the briefing.

"That is has taken a turn where we are potentially pointing to our unsheltered as if they are participating in criminal behavior, that was not the intent," Stewart said. "I regret that we have gotten into that area."

Staff from the city's Office of Housing and Homelessness Solutions were not present at Monday's committee meeting.