One week before volunteers conduct their annual, federally mandated count of homeless living in Tarrant and Parker counties, Fort Worth officials unveiled a handful of new projects aimed at improving the city鈥檚 response to homelessness.
Those projects include:
- Implementing citywide signage to discourage residents from donating to panhandlers.
- Increasing community outreach and education on homelessness.
- Developing an online landing page to consolidate the city鈥檚 resources for homelessness and to accept donations from residents wanting to help those experiencing homelessness.
The ultimate goal is to reduce the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness 鈥� and prevent others from reaching that point. Unsheltered homelessness refers to unhoused individuals who are living outdoors, while sheltered homelessness refers to those who are experiencing homelessness but living in temporary housing like shelters or transitional housing.
City officials plan to review and reallocate funding devoted to homelessness response, increase the number of people trained to conduct street outreach and create a strategic plan to guide homelessness efforts in the future.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really a reset on our homelessness initiatives,鈥� Deputy City Manager Mark McDaniel told City Council members during a Jan. 14 presentation on the new initiatives.
Last year, Tarrant County saw a compared with 2023. About 2,390 were counted as experiencing homelessness in January 2024, with about 81% of them living in Fort Worth.
Partnership Home, formerly known as the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition, will conduct the Point in Time Count, an annual count of people experiencing homelessness, for Tarrant and Parker counties Jan. 23. The volunteer-driven effort provides a snapshot of what homelessness looks like in one night for every community in the country.
Want to volunteer for the Point in Time Count?
Partnership Home is asking community members to people experiencing homelessness during the Point in Time Count on Jan. 23. The organization needs about 500 volunteers.
Those interested in volunteering must be 18 years old by Jan. 23 and be available from 6 p.m. to midnight. Volunteers will be grouped in teams of three to five, and teams will be accompanied by a police officer. Each team must have access to a smartphone. You may sign up to volunteer .
Reorganization, increased collaboration to improve city鈥檚 response
In January, the city reorganized its team of staff that work on homelessness-related efforts. Previously, the city鈥檚 neighborhood services department headed those efforts. Now, they鈥檒l be housed in the city manager鈥檚 office.
The change comes just weeks before incoming City Manager Jay Chapa enters his new role. City Council members as longtime City Manager David Cooke鈥檚 successor.
McDaniel said the move to the city manager鈥檚 office will help provide a 鈥渉igher-level focus,鈥� as multiple city departments are involved in Fort Worth鈥檚 homelessness response. Those departments include code compliance, environmental services, fire, police, the municipal court, neighborhood services, park and recreation, and Directions Home, which is dedicated to funding housing services and resources for people experiencing homelessness.
鈥淲e鈥檙e learning things that we didn鈥檛 really know,鈥� McDaniel said. 鈥淔olks weren鈥檛 talking to each other about the services that were being provided 鈥� now they are.鈥�
Moving forward, Directions Home has been renamed , a change reflects the city鈥檚 鈥渆volving priorities and its commitment to comprehensive, strategic approaches to homelessness.鈥�
In recent years, city leaders have placed a renewed emphasis on tackling homelessness. Last year, council members approved the formation of Fort Worth鈥檚 , which is designed to purchase, retain and lease land to low-income residents, who can purchase or rent homes on the land at a low cost. In November, the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce announced the to develop a comprehensive toolkit to aid businesses and their employees. City officials are also considering adding to the city鈥檚 2026 bond package 鈥� a first for Fort Worth.
Before moving homelessness efforts under the city manager鈥檚 office, city staff met individually with all City Council members and 276 community stakeholders to 鈥減ut their ear to the ground鈥� in reenvisioning the city鈥檚 homelessness efforts, McDaniel said.
鈥淲e heard from all the council members that homelessness and issues surrounding homelessness were a priority for not just a few of you, but all of you,鈥� he told council.
"At what point are we going to hold them accountable? I believe in the compassion piece, absolutely, but I believe we as a city need to do better on the enforcement piece, and if that means changing some of our policies, I think we certainly need to explore that more.鈥�
Fort Wort City Council member Charlie Lauersdorf
Council member Macy Hill said during the meeting that she was 鈥渉orrified鈥� at the state of unsheltered homelessness and witnessing homeless camps near Presbyterian Night Shelter after making a donation to the shelter in December. She said city staff responded quickly to her concerns and thanked them for brainstorming new ideas.
Hill and other council members also pointed out East Lancaster Avenue as an area of concern, with people experiencing homelessness camping in the public eye. They referenced a photo of Lancaster that shows several tents along the street, which is home to many nonprofit organizations serving the city鈥檚 homeless population.
鈥淵鈥檃ll immediately answered the call when we sent that picture around and said, 鈥楾his is unacceptable. This is not a third-world country, this is the city of Fort Worth,鈥欌�� Hill said. 鈥淚 want to challenge the council to take a look at the balance between compassion and tolerance.鈥�
Staff request funding changes, charity campaign to help prioritize homelessness response
Bethany Warner, intergovernmental relations manager in the city manager鈥檚 office, and Homeless Strategies manager Tara Perez told council members they plan to ask for funding changes to various homelessness projects in the city鈥檚 2026 budget. Their request will include cutting funding to some programs in an effort to prioritize other programs that would specifically target the unsheltered homeless population.
The biggest requested change in next year鈥檚 budget would be to increase funding for homelessness outreach from $150,000 to $540,702. That funding would enable the city to expand from its current outreach team of three workers to six. The requested total budget for homelessness efforts in 2026 would be about $6.3 million, the same as this year鈥檚 budget.
Fort Worth has a total of 36 staff members whose jobs are directly focused on responding to homelessness, Warner said. The city has dedicated about $10.4 million in its fiscal year 2024 budget to its homelessness response.
From 2023 to 2024, city staff increased their homelessness camp cleanups by 83.7%, with 1,363 camps cleaned in the last fiscal year, according to data Warner presented to council members. It costs between $1,000 and $6,000 to clean an individual camp, depending on its size. Staff collected nearly 2,000 tons of waste in the last fiscal year, up 59.9% from 2023.
In addition to funding changes, Warner and Perez presented a plan to implement signage across the city that would discourage housed residents from donating to panhandlers. The signage would encourage residents to 鈥渃ontribute to the solution鈥� by directing their funding to the city鈥檚 homelessness resources.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of those things that maybe we鈥檝e tried an effort for in the past, and it鈥檚 time to rethink it, revamp it and enter it with some new energy,鈥� Warner said of the campaign.
The signage campaign was well-received among council members, with Jared Williams and Charlie Lauersdorf saying they鈥檝e used their own district offices鈥� funds to launch similar projects in their districts. The effort follows in the footsteps of other North Texas cities, including Arlington, that have posted anti-panhandling signage at major intersections.
During the meeting, Hill floated the idea of a 鈥渘o tolerance鈥� ordinance to crack down on homelessness. Lauersdorf echoed her sentiments, saying he wants to see the city and police department empowered to take action against people who experience homelessness but decline to accept help from the city.
鈥淎t what point are we going to hold them accountable?鈥� Lauersdorf asked during the meeting. 鈥淚 believe in the compassion piece, absolutely, but I believe we as a city need to do better on the enforcement piece, and if that means changing some of our policies, I think we certainly need to explore that more.鈥�
Council member Chris Nettles cautioned against a 鈥渘o tolerance鈥� ordinance without allocating sufficient funds and resources to support affordable housing projects across the city. He and Lauersdorf both noted that the Tarrant County Jail does not have space to hold people experiencing homelessness.
鈥淲e certainly don鈥檛 want to just have this 鈥榥o tolerance鈥� (policy) and be picking people up and taking them to some secret location to get them off of Lancaster,鈥� Nettles said, addressing Warner and Perez. 鈥淲e should continue to be compassionate. I think we should continue to add more resources to your department and not have you reallocate resources to try to do something different.鈥�
Editor鈥檚 note: This story was updated at 6:50 p.m. Jan. 21 to clarify council member Macy Hill鈥檚 reference to a Presbyterian Night Shelter visit.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org or .
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