Building Owned By The City Of Dallas Discovered Trashed With 20 Squatters Residing Inside
The city of Dallas owns a building, close to city hall which recently became the residence to 20 squatters for months. However, the city was not aware of its own code violations.
City workers performed a review and discovered 20 homeless people residing inside after Dallas City Councilmen Jesse Moreno found graffiti and an opened entrance at 711 South Saint Paul Street.
“Toilets overflowing with feces and urine. Liquor bottles. This should have been something our staff should have spotted and should have been monitored. How we allowed it to get in the condition that it did is unacceptable. Had this been any other private business, they would have been slapped with citation after citation,” Moreno stated.
The building used to house Family Gateway Homeless Shelter until they moved to a new location last year. When its lease was over with the city, the building was still in good shape.
As the city is now planning to buy property to sell to raise money for the Dallas Police and fire pension system, Moreno thinks this may have been an opportunity that got away.
He also highlighted that it seems as though the city’s methods to solving homelessness has not been effective.
“We have to have compassion but also enforcement,” he stated.
As of now, the marshal’s office is conducting daily safety inspections and patrols. The city is also intending to use metal plates, not wood paneling, to ensure that the windows are secure.
