The prior edition of the enews shared that the City Council would be voting on the purchase of the Candlewood Suites Hotel. The council voted to approve the purchase unanimously. Here is an article with information about the transaction.
Since the last enews, there have been several questions, and here are the answers to the ones that have been emailed to the District 12 office:
-Exact details of how long people can stay are unknown because it will depend on the proposals submitted by the non-profit operators.
-It is unknown if pets will be allowed.
-Notices of all meetings have been sent by enews and open to the public. They are not recorded.
-The owner of the hotel did not want to sell the property originally.
-Students are legally allowed to remain in the school they attended before they became homeless and their school, along with the new school district, arrange transportation. Students are also allowed to transfer in to the attendance boundary if they wish. At the Samaritan Inn homeless shelter in McKinney, it is not uncommon for 17 different school buses to pick up students. Most families do not wish to change schools in the middle of a school year. Generally, students at homeless shelters are picked up first and dropped off last to protect their privacy.
-People who need to be quarantined who do not have a suitable home may be sheltered at the hotel until a non-profit vendor is selected and prepared to take over the operations. If that happens, the guests will be brought by bus, quarantined to their hotel room, and returned to a central intake center by bus. They will not be in the community.
-Possible rehab of the hotel will include removing the pool which is a hazard for the children and putting in a playground. Funding for the rehab is already set aside with bond dollars from proposition J of the 2017 bond.
-There is no access from the hotel to Moss Glen Park or the Bent Trail neighborhood.
-Volunteer opportunities, steering committees, donations, etc... will be coming as the new vendor is selected and shared in the enews.
-The location is walkable to a bus station that has buses every 45 minutes during the hours the bus operates. District 12 is a transportation desert and this is a location with more access to public transportation than most parts of the district.
-The location is within the boundaries of the City of Dallas. It is in Collin County. The City of Dallas has property and residents in Dallas, Collin, and Denton counties.
-The hotel is located behind an automotive lot. It is not visible from Preston and has one way in and one way out.
-There are no homes adjacent to the property.
-Only families who became homeless while in Dallas will be sheltered at the new facility. Plano families are not eligible. Several Plano residents have contacted the office seeking help to bring a similar facility to Plano.
-Families will be referred to the shelter, no walk-ins will be allowed.
If there are additional questions, please send an email.
Thank you for the overwhelming emails, texts, and phone messages in support of this project. From the folks that live the closest who have shared how happy they are to welcome this new purpose for the facility to the folks a couple of miles away who have shared ways they hope to help make a difference, it has been very heartwarming, inspiring, and uplifting. Thank you.
