Family Gateway North Shelter FAQs
How is a family shelter different from a traditional overnight shelter?
A family shelter operates very differently than shelters that serve individuals. Typically, shelters that serve individuals have people line up daily to come inside, give them a place to sleep and a meal, and then release them into the community the following morning, while working with individuals to come up with solutions to their housing crisis.
Family Gateway North is a 50-room family serving shelter (temporary housing) which is located in District 12 in a former Candlewood Suites Hotel. We are committed to minimal disruption and inconvenience for those who work/live near our facility. We have operated a similar downtown facility without concern for more than 35 years, a block from City Hall, surrounded by highly engaged businesses and neighbors that give their time to the mission of our organization, and our aim is to integrate into our new northern neighborhood in the same way.
Family Gateway North is not a “typical” shelter. Families who are served at this location stay with us until a housing solution is found. Because children are involved, there is no check in/out daily. Once in our care, we work with each family on their unique strengths and challenges and help find the best solution for their recovery from homelessness, specifically finding stable housing and employment for adults (and connecting or reconnecting to education for children).
Family Gateway North is not a walk-up facility, and the address is intentionally not publicized on our website or in our marketing materials. Families seeking shelter care are assessed at the Simmons Family Gateway Resource Center (near Mockingbird/35), or remotely via telephone or videoconference. Our aim is always to help families avoid shelter, so we provide rental assistance, transportation to family, or eviction prevention services whenever possible. Only those with no other options are brought into one of our shelter facilities.
How do families receive assistance?
Families needing assistance may contact the HUD-mandated Homeless Crisis Help Line at 1-888-411-6802 and select Option 3. This rings into our call center which is staffed 7 AM – 7 PM, with an answering service covering 7 PM – 7AM. Families may receive a host of non-shelter related services, based on their needs. Families may also complete an online triage form to seek assistance, which is reviewed by the same call center/Assessment & Diversion team or overnight Crisis Teams to determine the level of urgency. Families with no other options may be placed in one of our family shelter facilities, with a partner, or in an “overflow” status when all shelters are full, while awaiting a space to open. Overflow families are placed in various hotels across Dallas County.
What types of families are served at this facility?
- Single parents with children, married and unmarried couples with children, grandparents raising their grandchildren.
- Female head of household families are prioritized to an integrated pilot shelter known as Family Gateway @ The Salvation Army. Larger families are prioritized here because of two room/1 bath shelter space.
How did this facility come to District 12?
Each Council District was encouraged to identify something they could do to support the challenge of homelessness in our community. The Councilmember in D12 hosted numerous public meetings to invite the community to participate in the decision-making process about what “type” of homelessness they would support. The community chose to support families with children experiencing homelessness as their community focus. The City of Dallas then purchased a former Candlewood Suites Hotel in the District and placed the opportunity to operate the facility out in a competitive process through the Office of Procurement. Family Gateway applied and was awarded the contract through this competitive process.
How long has the facility been in operation?
To ensure that families with children did not sleep outside or in their cars during the pandemic, Family Gateway was invited as part of the Emergency Response to COVID-19 to begin operating in January 2021. The formal contract to help fund the facility was formally awarded by unanimous approval from City Council in June, and the City began helping fund the facility’s operations as of July 2021.
How is Family Gateway North funded?
Family Gateway received two years of “seed funding” from the City of Dallas to support the operations of the facility, after which we will raise funds through our normal channels, which is a mix of individual, corporate, foundation, and government funding. We also receive support through the United Way and numerous places of worship.
What is the Good Neighbor Task Force?
This is a group of Family Gateway Board members and representatives from D12 who have come together to document what the neighborhood can expect of Family Gateway. Additionally, we have a Good Neighbor Agreement that is signed by all adult guests at Family Gateway North, used as a condition of entry into the facility, and regularly reinforced by our team. You can view the agreement here.
Who are the members of the Good Neighbor Task Force in case I have questions or concerns?
Steve Martin, Family Gateway Advisory Board Member & District 12 Resident
Justin Bailey, Family Gateway Board Member & District 12 Resident
Matt Jacob, District 12 Representative to the Citizen Homelessness Commission
Steve Jebbia, District 12 Resident & Representative from Bentwood Trails Presbyterian Church
Ellen Magnis, President & CEO of Family Gateway & District 12 Resident
Rabbi Andrew Paley, Temple Shalom & District 12 Resident
Bob Sweeney, District 12 Resident
Kevin Winters, District 12 Resident
What impact does it have on neighborhood schools to have children experiencing homelessness in the school system?
The McKinney-Vento Act is a Federal Law that requires Independent School Districts (ISDs) to make accommodations for children experiencing homelessness. Each large ISD typically has a Homelessness Liaison to help children ensure they receive the rights afforded to them under the law. This includes the ability for children experiencing homelessness to remain in their “school of origin,” the school they were In prior to their episode of homelessness. What this means is that children staying at Family Gateway North may attend schools across Dallas and Collin Counties, depending on where they were originally enrolled when they became displaced. Some parents prefer for their children to transfer into a closer school, but many parents want their children to remain in their school of origin for the stability that provides, especially if their goal is to return to their original neighborhood. Each ISD determines where children are enrolled, which may be at a set of schools near Family Gateway North, or as is the case in our downtown facility, children are enrolled in schools that are not nearby. Transportation is coordinated for children through the ISD.
Children experiencing homelessness suffer from the trauma associated with this experience and may have difficulties, as any child would, navigating in a new school environment, particularly if they have moved several times during their episode of homelessness. It typically takes children a month or so to settle into the routine of school, and they may be overly emotional, particularly if they are suffering from gaps in knowledge from school changes. The ISD Homelessness Liaison can be a wonderful partner to children and their families, as well as to our agency, connecting them to school counselors and other resources.
We equip students with backpacks, supplies and uniforms so they appear at school as any other child would appear.
Our staff can help support learning by afterschool program support, tutoring, etc., and can also help reinforce the importance of education and attendance to the adults in our care. Our team, however, is not authorized to take or pick up children from school but may be able to help parents identify back up support for school transportation, if children are not riding the bus.
The average length of stay in our shelter facilities is less than 80 days, and once stably housed, parents frequently opt to transfer their child to their new neighborhood school.
I would like my family, congregation, workplace, HOA or other community group to get involved and help. How do we do that?
We have year-round volunteer opportunities posted on our main website at https://familygateway.org/get-involved/volunteer/ which will be launched at this facility when renovations are completed in the fall of 2023. There are many “at home” or “at work” projects that can still be done, so check out the list and see what suits you!
How does Family Gateway measure success?
We track data on every call and every family served and use the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s metrics for measuring success. HUD cares about the following:
- The average length of time a family experiences homelessness.
- The percentage of families who exit from shelter into permanent housing.
- The percentage of families who increase their income while in our care.
- The percentage of families who remain stably housed after our housing subsidy is finished.
What else should I know about Family Gateway?
Our agency has served families with children experiencing homelessness for more than 35 years. We were founded by then Mayor Pro Tem Annette Strauss and a coalition of congregations, many of which are still involved in volunteering with us to this date. Mayor Strauss’ two daughters continue to serve on our Advisory Board. Our agency was honored two years ago as the only agency in Texas that year to receive transformational funding through the Bezos Day One Fund, as selected by a national advisory panel. Last year, we were honored to present at the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ annual conference on our model, which required significant expansion during the pandemic. We were also one of only nine groups nationwide written up in a recent national best practices document that was published by several Federal agencies.