The mission of The Bridge is to empower adults experiencing homelessness in Dallas with the tools to homeless recovery as they move into sustainable housing.

Our purpose is to provide every homeless man and woman with the tools necessary to recover and become self-sufficient.

Who We Are

Since opening in May 2008, The Bridge has evolved into an internationally recognized model for homeless recovery, establishing and leveraging key partnerships to ensure its guests have access to a variety of services all coordinated at one facility that are essential to their comeback from homelessness.

Located in the Farmers Market District of downtown Dallas and open 24 hours daily, the multi-service campus offers basic needs services, along with access to healthcare, income alternatives, and long-term housing. This “one-stop” concept lessens the need for transportation and alleviates frustration experienced by homeless individuals when accessing services. Our highly trained staff coordinates all on-site services and advocates for those experiencing homelessness from the point of entry until they are placed in housing.

As the backbone for the delivery of services to the homeless in Dallas and six surrounding counties, The Bridge plays a significant role in North Texas continuum of care for homeless recovery services and is the primary partner of the City of Dallas and State of Texas in supporting this population. Annually, the Bridge serves 85% of the homeless population of Dallas County – that equated to 6,717 people in our last fiscal year.

A staggering 20% of Dallas residents are living in poverty and, according to the most recent homeless count conducted by Housing Forward in January 2023, 4,244 individuals were found to be homeless. That is a 1.4 percent decrease in the total number of individuals experiencing homelessness from the year before. This gives us hope that our approach to housing individuals in Dallas is working and effective. Despite this encouraging change, The Bridge continues to see a significant increase in individuals new to homelessness entering our doors each month.

Despite these challenges, The Bridge is providing critical services to adults experiencing homelessness and engaging them on a path to homeless recovery every day. Thanks to our generous donors and community partners, our Guests are finding their way back home.

Our Services

Thanks to our generous private and public funders, The Bridge is able to provide these services (and more!) to our Guests every day – completely free of charge to them – for as long as they are needed.

The Bridge History

In the early 2000s, there were several homeless encampments throughout the southeastern edge of downtown Dallas, Texas — around the Day Resource Center, the site that is now occupied by The Bridge’s campus and the rapidly expanding Farmers Market neighborhood.

These encampments existed for a variety of reasons, but the primary causes were the lack of shelter beds, particularly to accommodate people who were unable to receive services from private shelters due to lack of capacity, and a lack of affordable and supportive housing units. Additionally downtown was overrun by individuals who were staying at private night shelters but had nowhere to go to receive recovery services during the day.

The Bridge was built in May of 2008 to provide solutions to both problems. Night shelter was made available to people unable to stay at private shelters and day shelter was made available to all adults currently experiencing homelessness in an effort to keep them off the street and help provide the resources they desperately needed to end their homelessness.

The Bridge was developed through a public-private partnership that raised nearly $25 million for a state-of-the-art homeless assistance center. The Bridge serves as a central entry point for the stabilization of chronically homeless individuals, helping them leave the streets for shelter and transitional housing, participate in healthcare, receive treatment for mental illness and substance abuse, find jobs, and move into permanent housing. Both the design of the campus and operating service programs were greatly influenced based upon three years of research from best practices utilized in other such centers around the country.