Okay folks, lets talk about the homeless problem in Plano.
Posted by Egans721@reddit | plano | View on Reddit | 37 comments
I don't want this to descend into nastiness, because honestly, when I drive around see them, I just feel so bad for them and I want to help in someway. BUT... lets to be honest here... Plano has a homeless problem. All down 15th street at night, and today during day, along the expressway... there is basically a homeless camp at that bank. What is going on here?
I saw the below post in the r/Dallas subreddit, and I believe it is connected.
Dallas is getting rough. This summer I spent time in New York City and Chicago, and while in those cities proper I never felt unsafe. I could walk around NYC at 3am and not worry, but Dallas seems to be getting out of control, and I was there during the day on a weekday and I felt like I was having to watch over my shoulder. Probably for a lot of the reasons outlined in the link above.
I am the #1 supporter public transport, but I have a sinking suspicion that the people sleeping on the streets are coming from from Dallas on the DART. Why, might I ask, could I travel around on the rails in Chicago or the Subway in NYC at 3am and never feel unsafe and it's all pretty decent, but I take the DART during the day and it's filled with people with mental problems and puke covered windows. Is DART purposefully trying to ruin themselves and turn Texas away from public transport? I hate Frisco to death, but no wonder they don't want DART.
So, three pronged question: 1. WHAT is u/CityofPlano doing about the homeless problem? 2. WHAT is DART doing about their shitshow of an operation? 3. WHAT is Dallas doing about their problems? Don't tell me it's an urban problem, if Chicago or NYC can clean up their downtowns, surely Dallas can.
End rant, please discuss.
royalooozooo@reddit
Pretty sure there is a new homeless person camping out at the Kroger on Custer/Parker towards the dumpster. I saw a police officer talking to her earlier this week and then just saw here again yesterday.
I also noticed 4 homeless people hanging out in over grown bushes at the 7-11 on Preston/Plano pkwy (near zorbas). I called the store to let them know but they didn’t sound too concerned or interested.
Is it legal to loiter now? Do business’ even care?
TreasuryTX@reddit
There are 2 Plano’s. East and West. Zero problems with this in West Plano. Just like Las Colinas in Irving. Same city, but treated completely differently
royalooozooo@reddit
I never see homeless people in west plano. Feels like they hang around businesses that support and feed them. There has to be some business around Parker/15th intersecting with Alma that continue to allow them to loiter.
I remember within the last 6 months two homeless individuals hanging around the Wendy’s off of Custer/Parker and some individuals have been jay walking across Custer.
lilibet89@reddit
Not true. I see homeless people at Park and Preston all the time.
neverpost4@reddit
This is not true.
Sometimes you see a family with kids walking down the street with wheeled luggage early in the morning.
I have seen people who were just sitting on a bench in Plano War Memorial, again with a luggage.
treladon@reddit
Tbh even ten years ago I as a young teenage girl could not sit on a public bench in Dallas for more than ten minutes in the middle of the day without being harassed by men who were clearly intoxicated or otherwise unstable. I moved away for a while and now I've moved back only to hear it's gotten worse. I used to use the DART quite a bit back then and it wasn't terrible.
All I know is that Plano is trying to cut their funding to the DART. Can't imagine that's going to fix anything.
I'm sure rent costs aren't helping anything. Not sure what you do about that.
My local church does plenty of charity work helping people with rent, food, utilities, etc, but they run at a deficit every single week. I don't know how they're making it. They have 5000 people attend services every Sunday and only bring in \~$50K in donations. Is everyone being driven into poverty so much that they can only afford $10 in charity (maybe $40 per family)? Can't imagine so, not looking at the size of the houses here in Plano. I think it's more than just the government's problem...
Delicious_Detail8417@reddit
So sad. Plano is in such sad shape. Growing up in plano. I don't recognize my city. My church was bulldozed for multi unit apts. My old neighborhood is littered with unkept yards and general disregard. I drive by literally every shopping center and is got Asian massage locations and liquor stores. It's like back to the future 2 where biff takes over and the town is a cesspool. So sad.
The_De-Lesbianizer@reddit
It’s not a considered problem for the cities. They actually love this post. Get back to work, or you’ll end up like them.
AmbassadorOfSphinx@reddit
Bro what? In what way do homeless benefit cities? If you’re trying to say that they encourage people to work you’re wrong, instead they encourage people to move or not be active in their community.
htownclyde@reddit
You are not the #1 supporter of public transport.
awesomemom1217@reddit
As someone who was temporarily a part of the ‘hidden homeless’ population (a person who stayed with someone else until I could get on my feet), I can tell you that there are many gaps in services for people who are one emergency away from homelessness.
If I were a person who had significant mental health issues, or if I was someone who wasn’t educated enough to be able to adequately advocate for myself, I definitely could have fallen in between the cracks of the system.
This is a multi-layered issue that requires a multi-layered approach:
-More funding for mental health services needed from the federal and state governments.
-More funding and better oversight for organizations that provide shelter services & wraparound services.
-More funding for organizations that legitimately help veterans who are in the verge of homelessness.
-More funding needed for food banks, including requirements that the items distributed be adequately nutritious and be enough to last a family for a week or two.
-More funding for families who are need of childcare. This suggestion is more so to help families who make too much to qualify for state assistance, but still find it hard to afford childcare. This includes adequate childcare being available to families with children who have special needs. It tends to be a bit harder to interview for jobs and/or take temporary jobs, more so during times kids don’t have school, if you don’t have childcare.
-More funding for organizations who legitimately help families with one time utility bill assistance or rent assistance, including one time assistance for first months rent & security deposit when they can prove they have a job, but just started the job so no funds yet.
I’m doing better now, for as much as the average middle class family can do. But I wouldn’t ever dare see homeless people overall as problems. 🙄 Individual homeless people? Yes, some of them create health and safety issues.
But that brings us back to what I proposed above, for mitigation of these issues.
Write your congressmen and senators instead of crying to us on Reddit. 🙄🤌
TxDirtRoad@reddit
I'd argue that this isn't a congressmen and senators issue. This is a local issue. Additionally, the proverbial carrot leads things the wrong way. It is of benefit to the city to not pay out for these services. It is also of benefit to the city to keep property valuations as high as possible. Blaming the federal level for a local issue is how nothing gets done IMHO. It's up to the citizens either by charity or by local govt to resolve the problem.
awesomemom1217@reddit
I would say it could be both. Locally, our citizens and government implanting solutions that are location/situation specific. But also receiving grants form state or federal government to make up for any shortfalls in needed funding.
flilmawinstone@reddit
You are talking about taking care of our citizens in need and not the rest of the world. All for it!! I hope people keep this in mind when they vote.
TxDirtRoad@reddit
Just to clarify, DART doesn't cause homeless populations. Pricing people out of housing does. Most NIMBY won't want low cost housing anywhere near them, so where do you have affordable housing? This isn't unique to Plano btw. The Metro as a whole is struggling with the issue and it seems everyone just 'wants them gone' vs trying to solve the issue.
ASleepyLawStudent@reddit
Not only that, but there’s homeless people standing near drive thrus asking you to buy them food, I just don’t feel safe. Don’t we have homeless shelters and food banks for this?
_What_2_do_@reddit
Do homeless people know how to get there? If I were homeless and had no access to the internet, I’d have no idea where shelters or food banks were.
elictronic@reddit
I would expect it is more profitable to be in an area that has more affluent population that likely does not have a food kitchen.
one_is_enough@reddit
Yeah. If you ask the homeless, they don’t want to be where the other homeless people are. Their stuff gets stolen and they are competing with others.
So they prefer a busy corner in a middle-class suburb, and DART takes them there.
No easy answers, unfortunately, unless you can convince the government to provide universal basic income. Not going to happen here, though.
derusernamechecksout@reddit
Universal basic income won’t do anything without some sort of price controls. Give everyone 1000 dollars and everything rises 1000 in cost. The demand for the product stays the same it’s just now everyone has the same amount of extra money to offer for it.
Bull_Market_Bully@reddit
If you have a conversation with them you will often find that they know exactly where the shelters are but the shelters have rules they don’t want to follow.
ASleepyLawStudent@reddit
I don’t know about Dallas, but the police in Houston transport the homeless to homeless shelters
r1mbaud@reddit
Wonder if we need more 🤔
AssignmentSecret@reddit
It’s amazing that dart doesn’t have a ticketing gate to get onto the DART. A lot of these vagrants are traveling for free and if they get caught, they are just told to stop at the next stop. No arrest. No ticket. Enforce the laws and watch the vagrants be gone.
Ravioverlord@reddit
A ticketing gate won't solve the problem. Actual enforcement of needing a ticket will. I'm from a state with way better public transit, and while we do have free riders from time to time it isn't as often because there are tickets checks enough to scare those without away.
Plus the city kept the trains clean, and with adequate protection for riders in case of issue. Here the trains are disgusting and often I see people talk about people shooting up or puking in them and when they try to ring the driver nothing is done.
Back home for me if you rang they stopped or called for enforcement. Nothing is going to change with how shit the dart is with safety/rule following. People often jump ticket gates in citys with them. What is needed is for them to care about more than profit and instead of usability.
Luckyjulydouble07@reddit
“Housing First”
Betrashndie@reddit
This sentiment is just the same old NIMBY crap you see everywhere else. Dare to think differently for once. How about you advocate for free mental health resources, free or affordable Healthcare, expanded affordable housing.
Question why it is that more and more people are falling into homelessness and addiction. Who is causing these issues in the first place?
Its not a public transport issue. It's not a "Dallas" issue. It's a national issue that everyone keeps passing on to the next guy until they're pushed out to the cities who are less heartless and then they're used as political cannon fodder.
This "homeless problem" talk dehumanizes a percentage of the population that desperately needs help and treats them like vermin. Plano in this case just happens to be the next in a long line of cities that have passed the buck and made the "problem" worse.
Detrite@reddit
What you are asking for you will not get. Until other more wealthy and socialist states get these services and fixes their homeless and addiction issues, why would you ever expect Texas to do so with your suggested course of action? He's right to vent on reddit instead because he knows and we all know -- this problem won't fix itself in the near term
Betrashndie@reddit
Texas is quite wealthy itself and there's no such thing as socialist states in the US. If anything you're proving my point.
Throwing your hands in the air and saying "well it's not OUR problem" is exactly how this perpetuates the cycle of blame and passing the buck. Acting like this isn't happening here and that it's somehow a different state's problem is also so infuriating. Why would you want to bury your head in the sand so hard while you watch your community suffer?
The problem won't fix itself, period. That's my point. We have to act at every level to help these people find the care they need and more importantly we need to stop burying our head in the sand and address the root cause that's pushing people out of homes and making them resort to illegal drugs to self medicate.
Get people access to Healthcare and improve access to housing. Stop blaming others for problems that are happening here. That's it.
extremedefense@reddit
The mental health issue needs to be tackled at a state and federal level..
The expectations that city of plano should "fix everything" is a little.. Unrealistic?
Good points though, wish we had universal basic income, everyone had a place to live regardless of income, and mental health care for everyone.
Swirls109@reddit
This is exactly what cities like Knoxville TN tried to do. They tried to help at a city level and then got swarmed with homeless populations because they had a good support system. Unfortunately it was a good system for those there, not the bombardment of all of the country's homeless. You have to do it at a state or federal level not a city level. This is the one case where local government hinders instead of helps.
FrostyLandscape@reddit
Rising cost of rent. I know countless people who had to move because of this.
InternetToast@reddit
Without a doubt, there was a good amount of people that live here who were just managing to get by paycheck to paycheck. Unfortunately over the past few years median household income hasn't kept up with inflation and a lot of people have been priced out due to increase in cost of living in the overall DFW area.
papaya_boricua@reddit
Post on Reddit asking for solutions ❌ or go to your next city council meeting and advocate for solutions✅?
partychrisg@reddit
Why is the existence of homeless people in Plano a problem? If people want housing and can’t afford it, that is a problem for them. If someone has a mental or physical disability, that is a problem for them. I would love to see these folks have more options for assistance here in Plano. But the fact that there are people on the sidewalks is Plano a problem for you?
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of homeless services in Plano. There are more options in Dallas (like The Bridge and Austin Street Center). Please consider volunteering there and getting to know the folks in this community.
charlene__@reddit
What is wrong with you?
Keep_Plano_Corporate@reddit
None of the three parties you're calling out have solutions for the problem. Dart is teetering on the edge of crisis as multiple cities are asking for audits as a lever to begin cutting funding to Dart. The problem is too big and Dallas lacks the ability to direct funding to do anything about it. Plano simply doesn't have the resources either and many of the non-profits that help with these issues are in Dallas, not in Plano.
You're also on Reddit, so I'm not sure solutions will come from the conversation, probably just people being critical of you for asking.
Frisco and especially Allen will NEVER join Dart because of what they see happening at the end of the Dart Red Line. Why invite that problem to your city when you can have the minimal amount of people in Allen still using it to commute to Parker Rd and get on there.