With the summer heat still blazing in Austin, city leaders hope to open a new congregate shelter for people experiencing homelessness by the middle of next week, so that people living on the street would have a place to temporarily live out of the elements, if they desire. But advocates for the unhoused remain concerned – first, because they’re unsure what living conditions at the facility will look like, and second, because opening the shelter will require siphoning funds away from permanent supportive housing, which is the most successful way to end a person’s homelessness for the long term.
At their July 20 meeting, City Council authorized staff to negotiate and execute a 12-month contract with Family Endeavors Inc., not to exceed $9.14 million, to stand up and operate a temporary shelter providing between 250 and 300 beds at the city-owned Marshalling Yard in Southeast Austin. The idea for opening a new shelter in the Montopolis area, right next door to The Other Ones Foundation’s Esperanza Community, was announced by Interim City Manager Jesús Garza in May. Now, Endeavors – a faith-based nonprofit that was founded in San Antonio and has operated emergency homeless shelters for the past 10 years, including in Dallas, San Antonio, and El Paso – could have the new shelter open to guests by Aug. 4, just 72 hours after signing a contract with the city.
“Individuals that are living either under bridges or in the creeks really do need to be someplace where they can have conditions that are climate controlled and not have to suffer from this heat.” – Interim City Manager Jesús Garza
Opening a new congregate shelter of any size within three months of announcing it, let alone one that will effectively become the city’s largest, is fast, especially by Austin standards. But supporters say intense summer heat explains the urgency. “Individuals that are living either under bridges or in the creeks really do need to be someplace where they can have conditions that are climate controlled and not have to suffer from this heat,” Garza explained to Council members before the vote. CM Zo Qadri, who represents Downtown, where a majority of unhoused people live, offered an amendment to the item that would require that Council vote on the contract after staff worked out terms with Endeavors. The amendment failed and later Qadri became the lone no vote on the full item.
The request for proposal initiated by the city sets out requirements that Endeavors will have to meet before the contract is executed. The shelter will have to be operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with designated intake hours and a curfew for the people staying there. It is unclear what the physical layout of the shelter will look like, but Marshalling Yard is currently a warehouse used as a staging ground for events held at the Neal Kocurek Memorial Austin Convention Center (according to the design firm that led renovations to the building last year, it can also serve as an “overflow option for emergency situations such as natural disasters”).
Once the facility is converted to a homeless shelter, it must offer “separate space and amenities” for people of different genders who may not be comfortable in a coed congregate (i.e., dorm-style) setting. Endeavors will also have to help connect guests with social services, including case management, housing navigation, and assistance completing applications for other aid programs. The nonprofit will also have to provide a shuttle service to guests in need of transportation.
But group homeless shelters are typically unpopular among the people who actually need shelter; often group shelters are viewed as unclean, unsafe, or possessing restrictive rules that make living comfortably difficult. Jesus Gonzalez, known among the unhoused community as Denver, told CMs that he has experienced homelessness in seven cities across two states, in a variety of different shelters. Gonzalez acknowledged the general lack of emergency shelter in Austin and that he was neutral on the Marshalling Yard shelter. But he also said it was “inconsiderate” for the city to ask for feedback on the shelter without providing many details. “We need to get more information on floor plans and services available before we can properly give feedback,” Gonzalez said.
1,000 Beds
In remarks defending the shelter and the urgency behind opening it, Mayor Kirk Watson also referenced the broader lack of emergency shelter beds throughout the city. There are less than 1,000 available on any given night, but around 5,000 people live without shelter in Austin. “I believe that in the continuum of care,” Watson told his colleagues, “we need to be providing [shelter beds] to those living homeless, and I’m not de-emphasizing, in any way, permanent supportive housing.”
But some of the funding that will be used to stand up the shelter comes directly from one-time federal funding initially intended for permanent supportive housing construction. In the Council Q&A document for the July 20 meeting, CM Alison Alter asked staff to break down what American Rescue Plan Act dollars would be reallocated to fund the Marshalling Yard shelter: $3 million will be taken from the $14.1 million set aside for PSH construction, $2.46 million of $45 million from the Rapid Rehousing fund, and another $9.7 million from other line items that provide support to organizations operating within the city’s Homelessness Response System. Some of the reallocated ARPA funds are also being used to fund a 12-month contract with Urban Alchemy to operate the Salvation Army’s Downtown shelter.
Before Council voted, Sasha Rose, who provides direct support to unhoused Austinites through Austin Mutual Aid, criticized the city for prioritizing what she described as “cleaning up … the trashiness” that can accompany the unhoused living without shelter over building up PSH, which can serve as a long-term solution to homelessness. “I actually think it’s trashier for us to be investing in these Band-Aid solutions on the gaping wound of homelessness,” Rose said.
This article appears in July 28 • 2023.