increase would amount to about $60 a year,

Dallas County leaders are asking homeowners to raise their taxes next month. It’s called Proposition A on your ballot and redirects more money to address homelessness.

For the last five years, the focus on addressing homelessness has largely centered on downtown Dallas.

Streets lined with encampments a few years ago are clear now, with an 80-percent reduction in people living outside.

On Wednesday, service providers along with both county and city leaders spoke in Dallas’ West End neighborhood, asking for support at the polls next month for a ballot initiative that would increase property taxes, about $60 per year for the average home.

The increase would create a permanent, $100 million dollar funding source to expand mental health and addiction treatment and expand a “street to home” initiative and spread it to all parts of Dallas County.

Sarah Kahn with Housing Forward says 93% of the 25,000 people they’ve helped so far have not re-entered the homelessness system. But she added that reach is limited.

Countywide, only 6 in 10 people who need help to get out of homelessness can find the help, Kahn said.

“The homelessness that you still see shows that we have to do more,” Kahn said.

Supporters believe more investment in addressing homelessness will keep Dallas County in a spot to continue attracting financial investment and growth by helping its unhoused neighbors.

Dallas County Commissioners had their own 3-2 split vote in August to support placing the item on the November ballot for voters to decide.

“They are expecting us to do more and they are right to expect us to do more,” County Judge Clay Jenkins said.

But how much more voters are willing to give, amid higher national inflation and prices, will begin to be answered when early voting starts Oct. 19.