Some of the posts here on the Advocate blog are news-y, some are opinion-y. Here’s fair warning: this one’s the latter.
Something’s been bothering me as Lake Highlands residents protest the Dallas Housing Authority’s efforts to insert the formerly homeless and recently incarcerated into apartment complexes among us. I’m not talking about whether or not the “permanent supportive housing” (PSH) should be permitted. That’s another discussion another time.
I’m uncomfortable with one argument against PSH currently making headlines – the case that crime in Lake Highlands is so bad that these new residents will be sucked back into a life of drugs, theft, prostitution and the other offenses that led them to be incarcerated in the first place. I’m not saying I disagree with that premise, I’m just saying I don’t feel good about telling everyone in Dallas that we live in an area too dangerous for folks trying to extricate themselves from their criminal pasts.
The argument is a compelling one – folks who’ve made mistakes and are looking for a second chance shouldn’t be thrown in with a peer group likely to lead them astray. People seeking a clean start on a clean slate have a better chance of success if they slip into a clean environment. I just cringe whenever LH folks say that LH isn’t one. Hardly the Chamber-of-Commerce pitch to newcomers searching for place to raise a family.
Stephanie Lucero, who lives in LH and covers our area for Channel 11, quotes some LH residents in her piece on the subject. “The Forest-Audelia corridor is well known by the Dallas Police, the Dallas City Council, and everybody else as being crime ridden,” says one. “It’s a great neighborhood,” says another, “but it’s sad that you have to look behind you every time you’re coming out of your garage.” And another: “I don’t think it’s a good idea, I’m kind of scared now.”
The Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association recently released a statement opposing PSH in LH. “The neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity of the Forest and Audelia area, where two of the Supportive Housing Placements are proposed, have been fighting one of the worst crime rates in the city of Dallas,” the letter says. It would not be, the letter goes on, “in the best interest of the participants of this program to be placed in such a high crime area.”
I applaud the LHAIA for their hard work and earnest efforts on behalf of all LH homeowners. Their request that the city and the DHA “be transparent in the current breakdown of Supportive Housing by zip code” is brilliant – we carry more than our share. Their tenacity in fighting City Hall is admirable. Their coordinated strategies and skilled communications are persuasive. But when folks talk about Lake Highlands and “the selection of such high crime areas for the placement of the recently incarcerated,” I feel like someone just called my dog a mutt. Hey, don’t say that about my dog! My dog is awesome! I love my dog!
