Dallas Morning News
The Stewpot, whose hot lunches draw hundreds of needy people, will stop serving meals at its downtown location when the city's new homeless center opens this spring.
Instead, the nonprofit will cook the food at the new facility at the southeastern edge of downtown, potentially ending years of complaints about homeless people congregating on the sidewalks outside The Stewpot and along a busy thoroughfare that includes City Hall and the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library.
The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, which will manage the center, plans to open the $21 million project – to be called The Bridge – in early May.
Mayor Tom Leppert said the plan to serve meals at the new site will be good for the homeless and for downtown revitalization.
"The meals will be a way to get people to go to the homeless assistance center," Mr. Leppert said. "That's going to be the best place where we can provide the services they need."
He also said he expects the move to lead to more investment downtown by getting people off the streets.
The new 24-hour center aims to help the chronically homeless, those with disabilities and long histories on the street, by offering emergency shelter, counseling and assistance with jobs and housing. The center's main goal is to move people into homes as soon as possible.
"This is the bridge to get them permanent housing, and there will be less chronic homeless day in and day out," said Mike Rawlings, the city's homeless czar.
The new project will give the homeless a larger dining hall and more frequent meals, he said. The Stewpot, which now serves lunch Monday through Friday, will expand to three meals a day, seven days a week.
The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance also has a contract with Los Angeles-based PATH Partners to provide social services at the center, said Mike Faenza, the alliance's president and chief executive. Mr. Faenza said the contracts were not final, and he could not discuss the dollar amounts.
The Stewpot, a ministry of First Presbyterian Church, serves hot lunches to as many as 600 homeless people each day. It has evolved from serving food out of the church's basement in 1975 to offering a variety of services including dental care, help with job searches and enrichment programs for inner-city children. The agency will continue to offer programs other than meals at its current location at 408 Park Ave.
Last fall, the church opened its parking lot to about 200 homeless people a night after a city initiative stopped them from sleeping on the sidewalks outside The Stewpot, generating concerns from some surrounding business owners. In December, the church and the city worked out a solution to move the homeless people into overnight shelters and the city's Day Resource Center, which temporarily opened at night until the new project opens.
Todd Fisher, co-owner of the Petropolitan, a dog day care and grooming business near The Stewpot, said he appreciates the agency's work for the homeless. He said moving the meals to the new site will help boost development along the busy corridor.
"I'm really anxious for ... [The Bridge] to open. I think it will be beneficial all the way around," he said.
John Crawford, president and chief executive of DowntownDallas, the central business district economic development organization, also said he is pleased many of the chronically homeless finally will have a place to get the help they need. And he expects positive business developments in the area as fewer homeless people congregate around the current Stewpot site once the new center opens.
"Unfortunately, when you've got homeless people in an area, that has tended to drag down property values," Mr. Crawford said. "With the homeless assistance center opening up, and less people congregating around First Presbyterian Church, I think that property values, not overnight, will increase, and that will be a major improvement to the whole area."
The Rev. Bruce Buchanan, executive director of The Stewpot, said that though there have been complaints over the years about the presence of the homeless downtown, there also has been substantial support, including the donations that fund the agency's $1.5 million annual budget.
Mr. Buchanan cautioned that homeless people may not disappear from downtown streets once the new center opens.
"I think we've got to recognize that people are not really herd-able, so to speak," he said. The success will depend on the quality and consistency of the center's programs, he said. "We know the food will be good," he said.
When the long-anticipated center's doors open, Donna Benassayag, a homeless woman who waited outside The Stewpot for lunch Wednesday, said she will be there.
"I think it's going to be great," she said. "I think it will facilitate a lot more people."
Ms. Benassayag said she believes that homeless people will begin to congregate at the new site rather than in the business district downtown. She said she knows first-hand that some people would rather not see the homeless because some of them refuse to look at her when she panhandles.
"It's out of sight, out of mind," she said. "People don't want to think about it."
First Presbyterian Church, with its ministry The Stewpot, has a long history of serving the homeless in Dallas.
1975 – First Presbyterian Church opens a soup kitchen, The Stewpot, in its basement after a homeless man comes to the church asking for food. The kitchen soon begins to serve about 40 people a day.
1988 – First Presbyterian runs the city's newly opened Day Resource Center for the first nine months. The city takes over operations after a rift with the church.
1991 – The Stewpot, which continues to expand and offer additional services, moves into a donated two-story brick building at 408 Park Ave.
October – First Presbyterian allows homeless people to sleep in its parking lot after a city initiative forces them off sidewalks outside The Stewpot.
November – First Presbyterian and city officials work out a plan to move homeless people into shelters, and the Day Resource Center opens at night.
Jan. 14 –The Stewpot serves meal No. 2,500,000.
February – The Stewpot agrees to provide meals at Dallas' new homeless center when it opens in May. The agency will continue to offer other services at 408 Park Ave.