DALLAS, Texas — Residents living near and around the Dallas Executive Airport voiced opposition Tuesday night to revamping an old hospital purchased by the City of Dallas into a facility offering homeless solutions.
Council Member Zarin Gracey hosted the input meeting and took concerns and notes from citizens.
The facility is the former University General Hospital in Oak Cliff at 2929 South Hampton Road, which has been vacant since 2015 before the city purchased the 12-acre property in 2022 for $6.5 million, hoping to turn it into long-term housing for those who were putting homelessness behind them.
But nothing has happened since the purchase, partly due to heavy pushback from residents who disagree with the city's ambitions based on the facility's location.
The old hospital is right next to Kiest Park, homes, a school and a library.
The Office of Homeless Solutions presented its preferred path for the facility to the city council last month: divide the property for potential housing for homeless youth and families while offering supportive and in-patient nonprofit hospice services.
The city also wants to provide counseling and community resources for job and financial education on the property, including literacy services.
On top of that, part of the property, per the OHS presentation, could be used for retail businesses.
The city could always sell the property, but since it was purchased with bond money designated for homeless and housing services, the sale proceeds would have to go toward that same function.
The city also can't use the facility for other purposes due to the entanglement of bond funds and their specific use.
Inside the Trinity Basin Preparatory Ledbetter Campus, where the meeting was held, few voiced support for the facility being used to help the homeless.
Others pointed out that the sale of the facility could go toward finishing renovations for a hotel on Independence Boulevard bought during the pandemic to offer a solution to housing the homeless.
The city is ultimately gathering feedback from community members to alter and fine-tune its preferred path for the property. The goal to have a uniform plan is sometime in 2025.