Destination Home

Dallas cannot truly be a home to anyone until it can provide a home to everyone.

Guided by this belief, Central Dallas Ministries provides permanent, supportive housing to our most vulnerable neighbors: the "chronically homeless" who need the support of their neighbors in order to secure and sustain a home.

The program currently has capacity for 50 individuals, which will expand to over 105 within the coming year.

Destination Home is also working with CDM's partners at the Central Dallas CDC to develop housing for an additional 50 formerly homeless people at the citywalk@akard building in Downtown Dallas.

Please take a few moments to watch
our video about this program.

The Business Case for Ending
Homelessness

CDM is committed to the belief that what is best for our homeless neighbors is also best for our community.

Dallas currently spends $40-50K per homeless person, primarily through costs of incarceration and hospitalization. CDM's program proposes to decrease this cost to less than $15K while simultaneously providing these individuals with a home.

To learn more about this, please consider downloading this brief article about the cost-benefit analysis of our program here as a PDF ().

To that end, we put together the "Business Case for Ending Homelessness" in collaboration with the Central Dallas CDC and the J. McDonald Williams Institute.

You can download the business case here as a PDF ().

You can also download the "10 year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness" that the City of Dallas adopted in 2004 here as a PDF ().

About the Program

Primarily funded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Destination Home is a permanent supportive housing program for single individuals who are homeless and have a disability. We offer one-bedroom, furnished apartments and comprehensive, on-site case management. Our participants are required to sign a lease and a program participation agreement. Participants pay 30% of their income to Central Dallas Ministries as a program participation fee and meet with a case manager at least two times per month. CDM sets aside a portion of the program participation fee each month as an automatic savings program. Participants who successfully follow their program participation agreement receive a portion of their fees back after 12 and 24 months and can spend these funds on a purchase that they plan for with their case manager.

Eligibility

Our primary target population is chronically homeless individuals. Applicants do not have to be receiving disability income to apply - they do need to have a chronic substance abuse disorder, mental health diagnosis, chronic illness, or physical disability that impacts their ability to live independently. The apartment complex does conduct a criminal background check in conjunction with their lease application. Their criteria currently excludes individuals with a felony or certain misdemeanors on their records.

To Make a Referral

We initially screen individuals by phone and then set up an appointment to fill out an application. We can also assist them in gathering verification of disability and homelessness.  Interested applicants can contact Courtney Van Zandt, LMSW, the Destination Home Outreach Coordinator at 214-341-7800.