Living in the Desert

An Essay on Urban Camping

Richard Romboy
Mary Jayne Davis English 2010
September 30, 2013

Romboy1 An Introduction to Homelessness

HOMELESS ANYTHING HELPS, God Bless Anyone who has taken a freeway off ramp has seen a solitary figure holding up a version of this creased and greasy cardboard sign. The National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty estimates that homelessness has doubled or tripled in America in the last 30 years. Twenty Mayors of Americas leading cities meet each year to openly discuss the homeless problem in their areas and what can be done to alleviate the strain. Year after year homelessness grows. As a result of insufficient reasonable housing, substance abuse and mental illness 3.5 million people find themselves on the street every year and on any given night 99,894 adults are chronically homeless (U.S. Mayors). The National Coalition for the Homeless claims that the largest contributing factor is lack of low cost housing, insufficient social services and lower wages. Families and women with children receive the highest priority in shelters, transitional and permanent housing yet single adults make up 70% of those in emergency shelters and 94% of all homeless (NCH). All definitions of homelessness assume shelter or transitional residency. In the Stewart B. McKinney Act of 1994, the U.S. Governments definition, states, a person is homeless if they reside in a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (42 U.S.Cong.). Drug and alcohol dependence is prevalent in the homeless community. Thirty-eight percent of homeless people were dependent on alcohol and 26% abused other drugs. In many situations, however, substance abuse is a result of homelessness rather than a cause (U.S. Mayors). People who are homeless often turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with their situations (NCH).

Romboy2 Mental illness is a leading cause of homelessness. Although the majority of street people fall into some degree of mental instability, 25% are considered to be seriously mentally ill by the National Institute for Mental Health. Difficult to deal with already, many people with mental disabilities actively reject caregivers and family and end up in the revolving door of shelters and incarceration (NCH). The National Health Care for the Homeless Council Homeless found that the homeless are 6 to 7 times more likely to need medical treatment and 70% have no insurance whatsoever. The average homeless life expectancy is estimated to be between 42 and 52 years of age (NHCHC).

Homelessness in Dallas On September 24, 2003 the City of Dallas announced plans to develop a Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. Dallas has had a homeless epidemic for over 20 years. However, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance 2011 survey indicates in a city of 1.2 million there were only 512 chronically homeless and around 5,800 total homeless individuals per year. Yet, all the shelters in the Dallas Metro Area are filled to capacity nightly (U.S. Mayors). Dallas area journalist Scott Guthrie writes that in order to become a world class city the City of Dallas built The Bridge to a Better Life, a $21 million homeless shelter. The Bridge

Romboy3 as it commonly known is a public and private enterprise, managed by a board of directors but housed in a City of Dallas facility. According to the official website The Bridge gets 59% of its funding from The City of Dallas, Dallas County and the State of Texas, with the
The Courtyard at the Bridge (The Bridge)

remaining 41% from public and private donations. In the 25,000 square foot compound it proudly claims day shelter for 1200, temporary beds for 325 and emergency overnight shelter for 100 persons (Bridge and City of Dallas). However, in my experience The Bridges 100 person capacity emergency overnight Pavilion is housing 300 or more men and women in semipermanence who must stay there for 90 days in order to move into one of the 325 temporary beds. And every evening as long rows of folding tables are moved to the sides of the emergency
The Pavilion at the Bridge (The Bridge)

sleeping area dozens of new homeless queue up for the chance to get a mat. The largest homeless shelter in Dallas is The Dallas Life Foundation. Located in a 100,000 square foot warehouse on Cadiz Street just south of downtown, it has capacity for 500 individuals, and 700 total residents. Dallas Life is the only shelter in northern Texas that allows entire families to stay together. Originally started as the Dallas Mission it has changed locations and ministries several times. Currently run by the First Baptist Ministry of Dallas it had over $3.2 million in donations for 2011 with $303,139 in cash at years end. Dallas Life pays nearly $900,000 in annual salaries, not including benefits. Dallas Life offers a spiritual path out of

Romboy4 homelessness, including a 10 month program where homeless live and work at Dallas Life and upon graduation are guaranteed jobs and homes. The executive director of Dallas Life is Rev. Bob Sweeney formerly the Chaplain at a maximum security prison. (Dallas Life) Nonetheless, there is growing opinion among service providers that many of these facts and statistics are wrong. It is impossible to get real data on homelessness as many of its numbers do not want to be found (NCH). A couple of troublesome facts are that shelters are full to overcapacity nightly, especially in inclement weather and many homeless do not seek any assistance at all (U.S. Mayors). The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness after analyzing statistic from major U.S. cities has determined that the number of homeless is easily 2 to 3 times more than official estimates. Homeless in Dallas I woke as the dawn sun reflected off the sides of the Commerica Tower, crawling out of my dirty to black red sleeping bag I fumbled on the laces of my boots. They were Marine Corps desert storm boots a size and a half too big with big thick laces. I often had trouble tying them in the morning before Id had anything to drink, but this morning was particularly tough. My fingers just wouldnt work and my hands felt really numb. I stood up to stretch and see where my breakfast beer had fallen over and rolled away to during the night and noticed all the fountains in Dallas had frozen solid. It was time to head for Florida. I kept drinking but stopped buying crack and in four days I had the $180 to get on the Greyhound bound for Orlando. I left Dallas on January 6th, 2011.

The Commerica Tower and my alarm clock

Romboy5 Dallas was the first place I stayed where I was truly homeless. I had no friends, family or contacts and definitely no money. In the first week I slept behind dumpsters and in bushes until stench and sprinklers drove me to better locations. With a serious get-the-shakes-and-have seizures love of alcohol, my first priority was to find the liquor stores and my second to find a way to pay them. There are some homeless who just hang around the shelters looking for the next cafeteria meal and watching TV, nonetheless over one quarter of the homeless are legally employed (NCH). Some have jobs arranged through churches or homeless counselors yet an equal amount go out into the world hustling, panhandling and stealing. To the addicted these are the perfect jobs. You work when you want to and usually the money is good. The only drawback to this job; arrest and jail, is not so bad when you sleep behind a dumpster, under an overpass or in a dry fountain as I did. My main source of income was flying a sign and I was very good. There are two rules for this type of work. The first rule of flying a sign is: do not burn out a corner. If the same 9 to 5 workers see you there every day all day, they stop giving money to not just you, but all panhandlers. The second rule is: watch out for cops. Most cops do not want to have to arrest you. If the police see you, acknowledge his or her presence, fold up your sign and leave the corner. If that officer sees you flying that corner the same day you will go to jail. Cops have a couple ways to arrest panhandlers. In most cities panhandling is a ticket-able offense. With more pressing concerns than paying fines eventually the tickets turn into warrants. Many
One of my panhandling mug shots

Romboy6 police persecute the homeless with smug satisfaction, constantly stopping the homeless to look for warrants. In some cities obstructing traffic, public intoxication or open containers will get you a trip straight to the hoosegow. This is not limited to just panhandlers, criminalizing the homeless is very common and many cities enforce these generally minor laws on only the homeless. It does nothing to solve the problem but with many homeless in jail cities can appear to be cleaner. I carried two cardboard signs for different times of the day, in the morning Id fly a sign with a few lines by Lord Byron Heres a sigh to those who love me, And a smile to those who hate; And whatever skys above me, Heres a heart for every fate. or Percy Bysshe Shelleys song Rarely, rarely comest thou, Spirit of Delight! Wherefore hast thou left me now Many a day and night. Very few people knew the authors but I got some $20 and $50 bills from older wellheeled people by flying the classics of English literature. In fact a lot of people who gave small money ($1 and $5 bills) didnt care what was on the sign. For evening drive time I flew the untouchable why lie? I need a beer. Younger people and blue collar workers appreciated the honesty. It was common for people to ask to take my picture holding this sign, and I always asked for $5 a photograph, and got it more often than not. I was in the high income bracket for sign flyers; I could count on between $40 and $100 per day for around four hours of work. Not all panhandlers put the amount of demographic research into their corners that I did though. I followed the money. I looked for upper class neighborhoods next to shopping areas with freeway access. I shared my corner with four other men I rarely spoke to and only saw at work. We all knew the value of the corner and showed immense respect to each others hours and proficiency. We had a good job and we knew it.

Romboy7 I had a lot of fun, when I was homeless, free from jobs and school and rent, I was as free as I could be with my addiction. There is an immense openness to cities from street level and unless you are waiting to get into a chow hall or handout line being outside all day is exhilarating. As I traveled the metro area I always kept an eye out for good shelter. Many times I would look for the alcoves or planter boxes of vacant office buildings, of which Dallas had no shortage, to curl down on top of my backpack and sleep. In fact I slept in the planter of Dallas most expensive hotel; at least it was when John F. Kennedy spent his last night there. It is now a decrepit shell but one can see its former glory. I had sleeping spots in different parts of the city that I used depending on where I ended up at night. Most street dwellers call their hideouts camps or houses. In a large city this is misleading, there is no real security, and it is not uncommon to find someone sleeping in your hidey-hole. Urban camping involves finding a shelter that is covered, protectable and invisible. By employing the leave no trace method, in short, arriving late in the evening, leaving at dawn and picking up all trash I came and went unseen. My main camp was in Thanksgiving Square in the heart of the business district very close to a liquor store and the light rail stops. When the weather was good I slept in a large drained fountain. Huddled next to the wall, I woke up several times to tourists sitting on the ledge right above me, totally oblivious to my presence. The fountain was tested on one

Tourists often sat on the edge of the fountain while I slept just below

Romboy8 occasion and it was an unpleasant alarm clock to say the least. In poor weather I slept at the entrance to the Chapel in Thanksgiving Square. Concealed behind railings, up a long ramp I had protection from all but the worst winter storms. Thanksgiving Square had two major advantages; it was private property (no police
The Chapel: My mattress was the doormat (City of Dallas)

walk-throughs) and the kindly old caretaker who woke me when the Chapel was about to open. My second home was under the South St. Paul Street and I40 overpass. Down a steep slick grass slope under the west side was a ledge just below the roadway. I slept on my side on a ledge narrower than my shoulders. I was lulled to sleep by the sound of midnight traffic slashing by below me and woken by a little rain of dust and the sound of early commuters thump-thumping over the joist inches above me. I had a real problem with shelter dwellers. They were the only people who felt truly homeless. Listlessly, from lights on to lights out, they spent the day going from breakfast to public library to lunch to public library to dinner and then a mat on a concrete floor or a bunk bed, finally snoring the night away next to hundreds who had the exact same day. The advantage of the sheltered homeless is that they have shelter cards. Many social services such as emergency food stamps, basic medical care and access to food and clothing banks are unavailable without a shelter card, in short proof of homelessness. These are essential services to the disenfranchised.

Romboy9 All shelters have strict rules against drugs, alcohol and weapons but what is ironic is some have rules of admission a well. There is an application process and in many instances waiting lists. You must sleep at a facility anywhere from one night to a week to get a shelter card. I chose to go to Dallas Life. Unlike The Bridges 7 page application, N.C.I.C. (federal) warrant check, and one week waiting list, Dallas Life was nothing more than a pat down, a walk through the metal detector and a one page contract basically saying I agreed to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior. Dallas Life was the eeriest place I have ever stayed. Housed in a foreboding 3 story warehouse just over the railroad tracks you walk along its long inward facing barbed wire fence to a massive steel gate while the cell block building towers above. Entering from the rear walled courtyard I kept thinking about Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz but I couldnt see Jesus Macht Frei anywhere. In order to get assistance at Dallas Life (like most Christian oriented shelters and churches) one
The Second floor is men only but whole families have the top floor (Dallas Life)

has mandatory church

attendance or Chapel as it is commonly called. Chapel is always right before chow and often there is a door directly from the chapel to the dining hall so no one can cheat themselves out of salvation. The chapel in Dallas life is in the basement. It is a long, low and narrow room with heavy pipes running helter skelter across the white ceiling. There is crimson floral carpet and guilt red velvet chairs facing a small stage behind which is a tiny room; a large vestibule really, cut from the concrete walls, containing a very un-lifelike paint by numbers Christ. Dallas Life is

Romboy10 policed and staffed by fanatic residents who are called Deacons; by giving themselves fully to Christ and staying at the shelter for 10 months they are provided real jobs and a real home. The kapos, I mean Deacons, are mean looking guys who treat the bums like the un-Christian shit on their shoes while espousing at random what a great man of god Bob Sweeney is. Consequently I heard plenty about Preacher, as they call him, before he ever took the creaky plywood stage. I had been to church many times as a homeless and hungry man, but I was totally unprepared for the Dallas Life version of gospel. As the Deacons sat rapt, nodding their heads and Amen!-ing with the synchronicity of a High School girls drill team, a new version of Jesus was revealed to me. Jesus was all about the Benjamins. Sweeney crooned about donations, and the VIP donors, and frantically screamed about giving oneself to Christ. Through his ministry was the only way to be free from homelessness, which was an addiction of the sick soul, just like drugs or
I get the chills just looking at this picture (Dallas Life)

alcohol. He pounded it into us that we werent living up to Gods law, that we were criminal in the eyes of the Loh-ord! Then he pointed to his Deacons; grinning with scarred faces, gold teeth and dead eyes These men! They are saved! I felt sick. I was surrounded by creepy Christians in a prison camp, but I had to get that card. After a tasteless lukewarm meal I was led to a much needed, but compulsory communal shower. As the long line of naked men exited the shower we were each handed identical sets of white cotton pajamas and led to bunk beds with miss-matched sheets from untold homes. Staring at the ceiling as the lights turn off from one side of the

Romboy11 sprawling space to the other, horror movie style, I could feel the chill presence of spirits. I did not make it three nights; I didnt even make it two. It was the single worst night of homelessness I had ever had. I wanted to walk out but my pack was under lock and key until morning. I think Im a little crazy for enjoying my time outdoors and most of us who are or have been homeless are a little crazy, whether from too many drugs, too much booze or a rejection of society, but, there are a lot of homeless who need loving help and meds, many need hospitalization. And there are homeless whose needs are hard to understand let alone define. The streets are often brutally violent. While I was there three teenagers were arrested for beating an elderly homeless man to death with baseball bats and I was threatened with guns, knives and broken bottles. The sick and elderly homeless are easy targets for their cigarettes, bags and what little money they may have. There were always several busted noses and broken arms hanging around the Bridge staying close to the security guards in case the perpetrators came back for another bout of fun. Homeless on homeless theft is common. But downtown Dallas was in the midst of an epidemic. If you took your eyes off your bag for one second it was gone. There was a semimythical figure around dubbed the Backpack Bandit and we all wanted to find the bastard and beat his brains out. No one knew who it was and no one ever saw him in action, but dozens of us had felt his sting. Its a terrible thing to be robbed when you have so little and that little means everything to you. Like most drunks I am fearless, sly and cunning when sauced and I made it my personal mission in life to find him and make him pay. In the dead of the warm Dallas night I hunted the back-alleys, 4loko malt beverage in my left hand, and knife in the right
At 12% alc/vol 4loko was many bums drink of choice

Romboy12 He was my neighbor actually, one overpass over. Tired and almost out of drink I had killed my last lighter smoking coke. It had gotten so hot; the top melted and shot the spark wheel and flint far into the atmosphere, totally un-MacGuyverable. Carrying my last snipe I stumbled over the sloped grass totally oblivious to the freeway traffic just to get a light. I had observed my neighbor once or twice sneaking into his house at dawn and dusk, I knew little about him but I had seen him at The Bridge a time or two. He was a skinny gray haired black man who spoke to no one and shuffled along pretty oblivious to everything but he did smoke. As I came down the top of the overpass; he was lying on his side in the grass next to the concrete wrapped in a thin filthy blanket. After I woke him and got a groggy light, I cut under the overhang
View of the Akard Street Bridge where I found the Bandit, this photo was taken from my overpass

and found his stash.

On the ledge under the four lane overpass were probably fifty backpacks and rolling suitcases lovingly arranged by size and color. I never told anyone I found the Bandit. They were his life, his work, perhaps his happiness. He dressed in rags and had nothing but his bags. My back pack wasnt there. It had been truly stolen. I never told anyone about finding the Bandit, someone at the shelter would have killed him.

Romboy13 Hollywood is an example of the criminally minded homeless. Hollywood was an HIV positive gay African American sociopath with a serious drug problem. Hollywood hustled all day every day. He sold crack when he had a lot of it and smoked it when he didnt. Because of his habit he usually only had personal and made money through short cons, stealing or organized crime. The organized crime in Dallas is run predominantly by the gangs in Oak Cliff, a suburb famous for violence, drugs and prostitution. Hollywoods main source of income came from one of the many street hustles that pray upon the newly homeless. Hollywood spent a lot of time at The Bridge and often lived there months at a time when he was out of favor with his bosses so he could spot newcomers easily. Most of these new faces still had some credit left if no money and they flushed their credit down the toilet when presented with cold hard cash. The scam involved qualifying via phone for a cell phone family plan and then being sent into various electronics stores with Hollywood acting as handler and buying the newest most expensive smart phones. After activating them the gangs use them as personal phones, running up the bills, minutes and data until they are about to be shut off and then losing them to collect the insurance. For about $1900 in cash, the gang gets six or eight smart phones which they can sell for $3500 and around 6 months of free phone service. The homeless are paid around $150 for this and introduced to a drug dealer who just happens to be right there. When Hollywood bird-dogged for his gang in this way they put him up in a hotel room guarding other homeless on a different scam. This scam was highly organized payroll fraud. Homeless men and women with valid IDs (not so common as one would think) would be put up for free in decent hotels and given take-out food, plus $100 cash for every check they cashed for the gang. After the first night in they are taken to a gang controlled apartment house or motel where they are not allowed to leave the rooms or make phone calls without supervision. Drugs

Romboy14 and alcohol are readily available through Hollywood and food is scarce and expensive. Someone I was close to spent two days driving around in a van with 8 other people Hollywood had picked up at The Bridge, cashing checks for $1600 to $1800. He cashed six checks and earned $600, a huge payday for work on the streets but saw the limited lifespan of his ID and freedom. He eventually made his escape by asking permission to use the restroom at a gas station. There is no naivet amongst those who participate in this scam. They generally have to be better spoken and dressed than your average bum in order to pass through teller lines at busy banks in upper middle class neighborhoods. It is implicitly understood that they are risking their freedom and confiscation of identification (one of the last vestiges of a home) for one of the only good paychecks in homelessland. There are some homeless without any obvious mental or addiction disorders and no criminal instinct. They are rare in my experience and inherently stand apart from most street people. There was a female panhandler named Sharniqua who worked across the street from me in University Park at a large track mall with a CVS, and a big-box electronics store. All she did was sit outside the U.S. Post Office and open the door for people. I never really understood how she started doing it and how people knew she wanted money but she was there open to close on clear weather days. Sharniqua did not drink or do any drugs other than a little marijuana on the weekends. She had four kids to provide for when her husband went to prison for robbery. She had never had a job or even been to school. She stayed in a motel initially to keep her kids out of the shelters but has paid $40 a night for her room for five years. The motel allows her to receive mail there and her children go to school every day. She buys them food and provides shelter with enough money to spend $800 on Christmas presents (she bragged about this to me on one of her

Romboy15 more talkative days). I asked her once why she didnt get an apartment; she just gave me the most quizzical look and said nothing. Being homeless is very hard on ones self-worth and there is a lot of self-sabotage along for the ride. There are opportunities to get off the streets, both public and private but very few seem to make it even if the door is wide open. My best friend or road dog was one such example. John Glapion was born into southern royalty as the great-grandson of Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen. He was raised between his mother in New Orleans and his Grandmother in the Bayou, picking up a soft Louisiana accent that can only be described as silky sweet, and he knew how to use that voice. Although a welder by trade, after a divorce and an increasing dependence upon alcohol and cocaine he found himself homeless in Dallas. John was a big man with a gold tooth, and the first time I met him he was wearing a huge black down jacket and tan leather boots. I blew him off because he looked like a vicious thug. John was the most eloquent panhandler Ive ever heard. To even call him a panhandler is a disservice. He was a consummate street actor, with a sense of cadence and timbre Shakespeare wouldve lauded. He taught me almost everything I know about aggressive panhandling. Legally defined it simply means walking up to someone and speaking to them with the intention of asking for money. Aggressive panhandling is highly illegal and can be prosecuted as robbery in some cities.
John Glapion

Romboy16 John instinctively knew how to approach and disarm anyone on any street, be it an AT&T exec smoking a cigarette, TCU frat boys coming out of a club on Main Street, or a couple of hard core ganstas just chillen in a white Range Rover. He never failed to amaze me, and sometimes I just watched him instead of making my own money. As his wing-man people were more comfortable with a big black dude if his buddy was a dirty little white bum. J.G. (he hated it when I called him that) had a lot going for him, he was staying at The Bridge, being a good boy and making curfew every night, sleeping on a mat in the Pavilion (read warehouse) shoulder to shoulder and head to foot with 500 other homeless. He was on track to get into the main shelter building, and the promise of a room with a desk and one bunkmate and from there an apartment of his own in six months to a year. The Bridges homeless outreach was going to get him into El Centro Community College the next quarter. He constantly told the mooches we hit up about his college plans to get more money. One night I watched him panhandle his whole college tuition. We were working both sides of a street that had a CVS and our line was excuse me sir, I aint askin for no money, but you could you please buy me a pair of socks? The socks at CVS dont cost much, you could go right in there and get em for me and this was a paying move. First of all we always needed socks on the streets. Walking 10 to 20 miles a day you burn through your socks, and secondly people dont expect that approach and often will just open their wallet. I cant remember the mans name (money had been really good for me and I was constantly blitzed and had a tendency to pass out in random places three or four times a day) but he was a tall white guy in his early 30s with a friend coming out of one of the million dollar lofts that stand tall, narrow and shiny between older red brick office buildings and bars in downtown Dallas. John had approached as they came out of the building and the guys went upstairs so fast I thought they

Romboy17 were calling the cops. But John just stood there waiting. They came back down a few minutes later with four pairs of the most expensive hiking socks Ive ever held: wool, reinforced heels, knee high, and so thick. The tall guy had gone on a backpacking trip in Utah and never worn them again. I was thinking this was a good score even without any coin and John just kept talking; he always pushed it once the door was open. I could tell from across the street something had changed between them and it had turned into a real conversation. They talked long enough I wandered off to get another bottle of Wild Irish Rose. In the end though this guy was so impressed with how well-spoken John was and how obviously intelligent he was that he gave him a business card and told John to call him if he ever needed any help with school. One week later after a few phone calls and one meeting the man paid for a year of El Centro tuition and bought John a brand new laptop. This was the break both of us prayed for; a patron to help get off the streets. John was really happy for a while, he stopped complaining about sleeping on a mat and the rules at the shelter and I really thought he was done with the streets and going to get his life back. I spent a couple of days flying a sign in Richardson, north of Dallas and been arrested for public intoxication. When I got back downtown John couldnt look me in the eye. He had fallen off. He had gone to the bar to celebrate, and then ended up at the crack house; on a bender for a few days he had sold his laptop and spent his Pell grant money on cocaine, girls and dice. With no money for books he just gave up. Johns eyes changed, he cried often and started spending more and more time at the crack houses. Shortly after I left Dallas he went to prison and I have lost all contact with him.

Romboy18 Conclusion There will never be an end to homelessness. As cities grow larger and families fracture there will always be those lost to streets or fleeing to them. I do not advocate the dissolution of shelters. Even though I personally detested them, they do provide a way, sometimes the only way for families to get assistance. For me shelters were nothing more than a place to get a free meal, a shower and make contact with other panhandlers. Its impossible for social workers at the shelters to help people get off the streets who dont know any other life. Perhaps as the homeless problem continues they will learn to show more empathy and offer services more suitable to the great numbers of solitary street sleepers. These are the homeless who need the resources of rehabilitation and basic education classes more than a place to sleep and eat. Small steps, all but overlooked are the only way to get the majority of homeless to have any chance of contributing to society. Interestingly on The Bridges opening day in 2008 not one single homeless person was part of the ceremony. This is not surprising, as a homeless man I was invisible to the social workers, overloaded and past caring, invisible to the rich and poor alike. Most people are afraid of the homeless. I did however experience unexpected kindness from the least likely people at the oddest times, albeit rarely. Most of all I experienced a raw, survivalist and hungry humanity not on some desert island but in one of the richest cities in America. Homelessness is a desert few make it out of alive. I am so blessed to have made it out. I show gratitude for the smallest things now and yes, I do break off a fiver for that dirty bum holding cardboard at the end of my off ramp.

Romboy19

Works Cited Bridge to a Better Life, The. www.bridgenorthtexas.org Web. 15 Sept 2013. City of Dallas, The. www.dallascityhall.com Web. 15 Sept 2013. Dallas Life Foundation, The. www.dallaslife.org Web. 15 Sept 2013. Guthrie, Scott. Dallas Celebrates Opening of Long-awaited Homeless Assistance Center Pegasus News 20 May 2008: www.pegasusnews.com Web. 15 Sept 2013. Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, The. www.mdhadallas.org Web. 15 Sept 2013. National Coalition for the Homeless, The. www.nationalhomeless.org Web. 15 Sept 2013. National Health Care for the Homeless Council, The. www.nhchc.org Web. 15 Sept 2013. National Institute of Mental Health, The. www.nimh.nih.gov Web. 15 Sept 2013 National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, The. www.nlchp.org Web. Sept 15 2013. United States Cong. 42nd U.S. Congress. Stewart B. McKinney Act. 42 U.S.C. 11301, et seq. (1994) www.archive.gao.gov Web. 15 Sept 2013. U.S. Conference of Mayors, The. A Hunger and Homelessness Survey U.S. Conference of Mayors. 19 Dec 2012. www.usmayors.org Web. Sept 15 2013. U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, The. www.usich.gov Web. Sept 15 2013.