Housing First makes housing last. This philosophy is based on one simple idea: the answer to homelessness is a place to call home.
OUTREACH: Service access for unsheltered individuals and families
The DRC Street Outreach team locates individuals and families experiencing unsheltered homelessness, completes assessments for housing, helps them gather documentation required for housing program eligibility, and connects them with individual-appropriate housing interventions.
PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING: Availability, placement, and case management
The DRC provides ongoing case management for people who are living in Permanent Supportive Housing options, whether site-based or scattered-site housing.
CRITICAL DOCUMENTS: Providing identity
The DRC helps people experiencing homelessness replace identity documents, such as driver's licenses, state-issued identification cards, Social Security cards, birth certificates, and others, opening doors to housing, employment, and more.
HOUSING NAVIGATION: Locating appropriate housing options
DRC Housing Navigators work with households assigned to housing assistance programs through the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition by assisting in locating appropriate options and walking with them all the way to move-in day.
A gift of $25 can cover apartment application fees, bringing the hope of home to reality after years on the streets.
A gift of $50 can stock a new kitchen for people who have gone hungry so many times.
A gift of $100 can provide new clothing to people who have lived in the same worn and dirty clothes for too long.
A gift of $250 can help provide furniture and household supplies to welcome people to their new homes-warm, clean, and safe.
THE SOLUTION TO HOMELESSNESS IS A HOME.
Regardless of the past. Regardless of the present.
And that's why everything we do is organized around the philosophy of Housing First.
BECAUSE HOUSING FIRST MAKES HOUSING LAST.
MISSION
The mission of the DRC is to provide respectful, responsible, and effective community-based solutions to help individuals and families emerge from homelessness as productive, healthy people.
VISION
The DRC envisions an end to homelessness achieved through investments that make permanent shelter a reality for all who need it.
PHILOSOPHY
The DRC believes that Housing First makes housing last.
The Problem
- Over 6,000 human beings experienced homelessness in Tarrant County at some point in 2023.
- On any given night, between 2,000 and 4,000 men, women, and children are living in Tarrant County without homes.
- 40% are unsheltered in any way, sleeping in places not meant for human habitation.
- 26% of these households include children.
- There has been a 20% increase in homelessness in Tarrant County since 2020.
- Unsheltered homelessness has increased by 34% since 2020.
- Veteran homelessness has increased by 12% since 2021.
The DRC approaches the issue of homelessness through the lens of Housing First, which prioritizes housing ahead of other life changes such as sobriety or employment. The Housing First model is proven to lead to better outcomes for people escaping homelessness than outdated approaches like the Housing Readiness model.
In addition, the DRC understands that for many people experiencing homelessness, “self-sufficiency” is simply an out-of-reach buzzword. For people for whom mental or physical disabilities, mental or physical illness, age, or other mitigating factors bar them from participating in the workforce at a level that would provide adequate income for housing in the current wage and rental rate environment, ongoing assistance through Permanent Supportive Housing is often necessary.
Though people experiencing homelessness suffer most—the homeless have a mortality rate four to nine times higher than average and live at greater risk of victimization, infectious disease, chronic illness, poor mental health, and substance abuse—everyone pays a price for homelessness.
Our society exhibits a stubborn refusal to create an environment in which our most vulnerable citizens may earn enough to afford a place to live, or in which we adequately care for our aged and ill. This has led to a chronic situation in which the bulk of the responsibility for mitigating the negative effects of these shortcomings are abandoned to our emergency services and first responders. Law enforcement is forced to spend time and resources on public nuisance issues that do not occur when people are housed. Preventable maladies overwhelm ambulance and public hospital services. Clean up of unsanitary accumulations in illegal campsites cost time and funding for Code Compliance departments. Schools take on the deficits in students’ “home” lives. And yet for some reason, many still cling to the inaccurate notion that housing is “too expensive,” while taxpayers pour public funding into the fallout of homelessness year after year. Homelessness costs every one of us.
The DRC serves people experiencing homelessness in Tarrant County, Texas. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or age in the delivery of services.
General operating support, an investment in DRC leadership and organizational development, supports high-value programs, strategic initiatives and administrative functions through which essential resources are developed and innovative services are coordinated across geographic and functional lines.
The bulk of the DRC’s programs consist of providing critical one-on-one support through professional staff. While tangible items like birth certificates or bus passes are part of the DRC’s programming, our ability to provide intangible support services through highly-educated, experienced staff is the heart of the DRC. Without our brave, tenacious, and creative professional staff, the DRC could have no impact on our community. General operating support not only allows us to employ these amazing individuals, but provides them with the tools and resources they need to be successful.
DRC Solutions is committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. We strive to build a team of diverse individuals who together as one team, intentionally seek to foster inclusiveness so that we can all perform and operate at our very best for the benefit of each other, the team, the company, and our customers.
The collective sum of the individual differences, background and life experiences, education and knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities and talent that our employees invest in their work represents a significant part of not only our culture, but our reputation and company’s achievement as well.
We embrace and encourage our employees’ differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, citizenship, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our employees unique.
With a diverse team comes the desire to drive inclusiveness as well, so that we all can engage and perform at our very best, and a commitment from the company to create an equitable work environment for all employees.
DRC Solutions’ diversity initiatives are applicable—but not limited—to our practices and policies on recruitment and selection; compensation and benefits; professional development and training; promotions; transfers; social and recreational programs; layoffs; terminations; and the ongoing development of a work environment built on the premise of gender and diversity equity that encourages and enforces:
• Respectful communication and cooperation between all employees.
• Teamwork and employee participation, permitting the representation of all groups and employee perspectives.
• Work/life balance through flexible work schedules to accommodate employees’ varying needs.
• Employer and employee contributions to the communities we serve to promote a greater understanding and respect for diversity.
All employees of DRC Solutions have a responsibility to treat others with dignity and respect at all times. All employees are expected to exhibit conduct that reflects inclusion during work, at work functions on or off the work site, and at all other company-sponsored and participative events. All employees are also required to attend and complete annual diversity awareness training to enhance their knowledge to fulfill this responsibility.
Any employee found to have exhibited any inappropriate conduct or behavior against others may be subject to disciplinary action.
Employees who believe they have been subjected to any kind of discrimination that conflicts with the company’s diversity policy and initiatives should seek assistance from a supervisor or an HR representative.
Organization name
DRC Solutions
Causes
Housing, Shelter & Homelessness
Operating Budget
$1,000,000 - $2,999,999
Counties Served
Tarrant
BIPOC Serving
Black or African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latinx, Native American
Address
PO Box 0871