3 January 12–18, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents WIPED OFF THE MAP Homeless people are caught in limbo, lying low and waiting for help while dodging the city’s efforts to clear encampments. BY JACOB VAUGHN O n a hot day in early November, Justin Thomas, Caitlin Sowell and Danielle Hollowell sat outside the Moni Food Mart at the corner of Marsh Lane and Rosemeade Parkway in Far North Dallas. Two young pit bulls named Bruce and Buddy Holly lay beside them. The three are home- less and living in tents at a nearby encamp- ment, but they’re trying to change that. About three months earlier, they had heard that homeless organizations would be signing people up for housing assistance in a nearby church parking lot. They went and filled out some paperwork with the or- ganizations to see what help they could get. It was their impression that they were get- ting on the list for the R.E.A.L. Time Rapid Rehousing Initiative, a regional program meant to rehouse and provide services for 2,700 people. They were still on the streets months later when the Observer published a story about how the initiative was nearly halfway to its goal. Hollowell reached out to the Ob- server to say there didn’t seem to be any- thing rapid about rapid rehousing. In hers, Thomas’ and Sowell’s experience, the pro- cess was slow and unorganized. If the program was working so well, why wasn’t it working for them? The answer is complicated, largely be- cause the program deals with people — homeless people who have assorted issues that put them on the streets, landlords who don’t want to take housing vouchers for var- ious reasons and advocates who are con- stantly strapped for time and resources. For all the hope that this and other rapid rehousing programs have engendered, they’ve also left some feeling lost in the shuffle. Before she was homeless, Hollowell, 36, had been sharing a unit at the Elan at Bluffview Apartments in Dallas with a roommate. Hollowell paid for her portion of the rent by working for delivery services like DoorDash, but the roommate, she said, was secretly pocketing the rent money and rely- ing on the eviction moratorium in place dur- ing the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid getting kicked out of their apartment. When the moratorium ended in July 2021, her roommate was prepared to move, but Hollowell wasn’t. That’s when she started living in her car, making deliveries to earn money when she could, but not enough to pay for a new place. Then her car broke down, and she started living in Dallas home- less encampments. To make matters worse, Hollowell said, she later fell down a flight of stairs, injuring her leg and tailbone. She said her injuries and the pain she experiences ev- ery time she walks has kept her from finding a new job. She eventually ended up in a camp in northern Dallas with Sowell, 34, and Thomas, 42. All three have had to move to other camps during months they’ve been homeless — because an area started to feel too dangerous or the city did one of its peri- odic sweeps to tear down the camps. The trio signed up for housing assis- tance through the local “continuum Jacob Vaughn | UNFAIR PARK | Justin Thomas, Danielle Hollowell and Caitlin Sowell sit outside Moni Food Mart with Hollowell’s dogs. >> p4
