Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved the purchase of a shuttered Oak Cliff hospital for permanent supportive housing of chronically homeless residents.
The city will use $6.5 million from 2017 municipal bond funds to pay for the 12-acre property at 2929 South Hampton Road, which has been vacant for about five years.
No specific plans have been made for the building.
News of the purchase was first reported in The Advocate, based on information from a City Council agenda.
Because it’s a competitive real estate matter, Council was briefed on the deal in closed executive session. That’s why it wasn’t communicated to neighbors ahead of time.
This won’t be an emergency shelter, City Councilman Casey Thomas said.
The site could provide longterm housing with “wrap-around services” such as on-site social, medical and mental health services. The property could also serve many other purposes in the realm of homelessness, such as a sobering center, a RIGHT Care headquarters or nutrition, wellness and healthcare services.
“Extensive community engagement” will follow the purchase, Thomas said.
“Talk to me,” he said, noting that his office has a 24-hour response policy.
The hospital is in Thomas’ District 3, but it is adjacent to two other districts.
City Councilwoman Carolyn King Arnold’s District 4 includes Kiest Park, which is across the street from the hospital.
“My emails are blowing up,” she said.
Arnold said she was insulted by the poor communication and that the news struck her constituents by surprise. She was the lone vote against the purchase because “I’m being asked to vote no” by an overwhelming number of neighbors.
Dallas has made several similar real estate purchases recently that show signs of improving their neighborhoods.
The Miramar Hotel on Fort Worth Avenue is now in use for permanent-supportive housing. Mayor Pro-Tem Chad West said the hotel went from being the commercial property with the most 911 calls in his north Oak Cliff district to having no crime.
City Councilman Omar Narvaez noted that property values have only gone up near the site of a 20-acre Salvation Army campus in his district.
And City Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn said the purchase of a hotel in her far north Dallas district for a homeless shelter has been supported by the community. [Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly categorized the hotel’s use as permanent supportive housing.]
“This sort of project is exactly what we envisioned,” for Dallas’ 2017 bond program for homeless assistance, which Mendelsohn served on prior to serving on City Council.
Once input from community members and stakeholders is gathered, then a plan can move forward, with engineering and design contracts being put out for bids as soon as the end of this year.
