Housing Forward and Metrocrest Services Share Homelessness Efforts with Council

Addison Town staff works with Metrocrest Services, Housing Forward, neighboring cities, and other partners to strengthen our collaborative response to homelessness concerns. At the April 23 City Council Meeting, Housing Forward Chief Program Officer Rae Clay and Metrocrest Services Director of Program Development Melanie Jones Meijering provided an overview of their agencies and their approach to addressing homelessness. Addison is hosting a Community Education Seminar on Homelessness on Monday, May 13 at 6:30pm at the Addison Conference Centre, where both these agencies will share additional information and answer questions.

Housing Forward:

Housing Forward, formerly Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), was founded in 2002 to serve as a collective voice for homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties with the expertise, partnerships, and resources to lead a system-wide, data-driven strategy with a mission to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

Housing Forward acts as the lead agency for the Continuum of Care and manages the centralized Coordinated Access System (CAS) so that individuals experiencing homelessness are identified, assessed for their needs, referred to resources, and connected to housing. The CAS allows services to be streamlined and coordinated from providers across Dallas and Collin Counties to help the system work more efficiently for those who need it. 

 To inform its system-wide strategies and approach, Housing Forward works together with the All Neighbors Coalition, a collaborative work of over 140 organizations. The Town of Addison recently joined this coalition to provide access, insight, and input into the strategies and systems being used.

Metrocrest Services:

Metrocrest Services is a non-profit community partner that assists with identifying, connecting, and resolving housing instability or homelessness for individuals locally in Addison, as well as Carrollton, Coppell, and Farmers Branch.

Depending on the circumstances, Metrocrest Services can provide help for families, seniors, and individuals in paying their rent/mortgage and water or energy bills. People in need of assistance meet one-on-one with a Case Manager Coach who works with them to tackle their immediate needs and help them on a path toward a more stable financial future.

For those individuals who may be experiencing homelessness and living unsheltered, Metrocrest Services has a Street Outreach team, composed of staff and volunteers, whose purpose is to meet individuals where they are to develop relationships, assess needs, and connect with resources. The Town of Addison Police Department and Town staff work with Metrocrest Services to identify and connect the Street Outreach team to individuals experiencing homelessness and living unsheltered.

The Town of Addison helps to support Metrocrest Services through an annual grant process, with a grant of $139,653 provided to the Metrocrest Services organization in FY2024.

You can watch the Council's homelessness discussion here and read the presentation here.