The New York Post was recently agog by this “Special One Time Assistance” situation for the homeless there. New York City is dealing with record homelessness, so the city introduced a program where they’d bus homeless people to other areas.

Naturally, some of these homeless people have been sent to Texas because we’re doing such a great job with the homeless here. That, in turn, led to some media outlets in Texas becoming agog by the news.

Usually when I make some smart-alecky remark about being an award-winning journalist, it’s to explain why I spent an afternoon trying out various dishes presented to me by restaurants and stadiums.

“It really is your responsibility to get to the bottom of this, though,” I thought to myself in italics.

I called the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and told them how agog everyone was.

Their development director couldn’t have been more excited to meet.

The New York Post, he explained, had left out some important details for the sake of scaring people. Perhaps most importantly was that New York wasn’t just shipping homeless people out because it’s cheaper. I had sent him the second agog link above, taking you to the station in San Antonio. The director of a homeless alliance there said it’s easier to find affordable housing in Texas, so that may be why they’re getting shipped here.

“Affordable housing!?” my Texas associates just shouted at their computers, also in italics.

But at the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, the development director said it’s a myth that homeless people are just getting shipped out. New York City is first finding family waiting to take them in.

And Dallas, he said, can bus people right back if an advocate here finds family on the East Coast.

He said homeless people are much less likely to become homeless again if they get matched up with family.

He sent the message concisely: Homelessness is not a disease. Most homeless people aren’t drunks and don’t have mental problems. Plenty of drunks and people with mental problems still have homes.

In conclusion, Helotes is one of the towns in Texas on the list accepting homeless people from New York. After 10 years here, I still had to ask a co-worker how to pronounce, “Helotes.”

“I want to say, ‘HEE-loats,’ but I’m pretty sure that’s wrong,” I explained. And it was.