City calls for new leadership after scathing Dallas homeless audit

Several Dallas city council members are now calling for new leadership of the organization in charge of handling the city’s homeless problem.

FOX 4 was the first to bring you the news of an audit highly critical of the organization last Friday. It found poor record keeping is causing Dallas to lose out on millions of dollars in federal money to help the homeless in Dallas.

Since the organization responsible is a private non-profit, city council members could only express their concerns on Wednesday without taking any action.

Close to 3,800 people are homeless in Dallas. The problem is easy to see near The Bridge, the city's largest homeless resource provider. Yet, despite the large population, the city is likely losing millions of dollars in federal homeless assistance due to poor recordkeeping.

City council members sounded off about the non-profit in charge, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance.

“MDHA is failing. They are in crisis,” said Councilmember Scott Griggs. “We need changes in leadership with MDHA."

“MDHA has created all sorts of problems for The Bridge,” said Councilmember Sandy Greyson.

The leader of MDHA, Cindy Crain, sat in the audience listening but would not talk to FOX 4 about the council's complaints.

The audit also found problems with The Bridge providing MDHA with data. The Bridge's Interim President David Woody said it’s because MDHA's computer software is too cumbersome.

“We can't put the breadth and depth of data into the system,” he said.

Griggs says until the audit, the city had no idea how bad things were with MDHA.

“Waste and abuse has gone on. They haven't been honest with Dallas about how bad the data system is,” Griggs said. “They haven't done proper procurement processes in hiring someone to build the software system. Now, they are ignoring the audit and not making changes being asked. That's an even bigger problem.”

Because MDHA is a private non-profit, the city's hands may be tied when it comes to getting leadership of the organization.

Griggs says the city may look into its legal options if changes are not made.