The Salvation Army has finished renovations on a family shelter in Fort Worth. The Mabee Social Service Center first opened in 1989.
In 2017, the Salvation Army transitioned from shelters for individual men and women to shelters for families. The organization said the change gave parents with young children a safe place to stay temporarily.
"It's usually not just one reason they've ended up homeless, so it does take a team, it takes a community to make that impact," Salvation Army Major Paul McFarland, the organization's area commander, said. "One of the great needs here in North Texas is affordable housing."
Over the past 16 months, the Salvation Army said the center has been running at two to four times capacity. McFarland said the expansion will give them room to help additional families while also providing privacy.
"It's been a great partnership with local foundations, the City of Fort Worth, where we have been able to totally revitalize our areas for families. It's just a more comfortable setting as we help them move into permanent housing," he said.
"They had bigger dreams to make sure this place that was temporary was also still a respite and still quiet," Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said.
The Tarrant County Homeless Commission said 3,635 people were experiencing homelessness at the beginning of this year, an 11% increase from 2023 and up from 2,218 at the beginning of 2017.
Of those, 25% had been homeless less than a month, 33% had been homeless between one and six months, 19% had been homeless between six months and a year and 23% had been homeless more than a year.
Two percent were kids under 18.
"It may surprise you to know the uptick in children and family homelessness, how many people are working and trying to make ends meet," Parker said. "But affordable housing is truly a crisis in Fort Worth, North Texas, and Texas."
Parker described the Salvation Army as a "beacon of hope," saying the organization provides food to 10,000 people at 12 pantries in North Texas, treats 500 people in its recovery program, and houses 1,300 people at shelters.
"This beautiful center has programs that are of vital importance to the City of Fort Worth and Tarrant County," she said.
The Salvation Army said the center can connect people with treatment for substance abuse, physical or mental health services, or job training.
"We meet them where they're at and then we work with them together to help them get out of their crisis whatever the crisis is," Director of Adult and Family Services Deborah Bullock said. "Sometimes they use several services. Sometimes we're not able to help them here, but we link them to our community partners."
Bullock said those services and transitional housing can help people become self-sufficient and find a permanent home.
"It's really exciting. The Mabee Center is the hub in Tarrant County where we provide services to people who are combating addiction, homelessness and poverty," she said.
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