Austin is looking to spend up to $20 million for cleanup work at the numerous homeless encampments across the city over the next several years and open a temporary homeless shelter at a city warehouse in August for $9.14 million.

The details

City officials July 20 will vote on a batch of several contracts for the cleanup and sheltering services before existing agreements expire in early September.

The new funding would come amid persisting concerns about safety and the management of public encampments. If approved, cleanup and maintenance work at such sites would be provided by:

• EPSI, a custodial services agency based in Lakeway
• ICCS Academy, a Central Texas career and training organization
• Kyle Lawn Works, a Central Texas landscaping business
• The Other Ones Foundation, an Austin homeless service organization that manages the east side Esperanza Community

“Presently, there are dozens of encampments identified within the city, and a number of these camps pose a great degree of health, safety, and fire risks,” according to a city document laying out the funding. “The contracts will provide regular cleaning services in and around watershed lands, creeks, and related infrastructure to safely mitigate these camps.”

City staff expect the contracts could cost up to $20 million over five years. However, only $1 million is available from the budgets of various city departments this year; additional funding would have to be determined in the future.

The current group of contracts is coming before City Council soon after staff had forwarded a different option for one of the contractors back in May, which was withdrawn following questions about the qualifications of the selected business.

The proposed public space management contracts are separate from Austin's own clearings of high-priority encampments and moving residents into temporary accommodations, often through the Housing-focused Encampment Assistance Link initiative. HEAL most recently relocated more than 70 people away from the Gaines Creek Greenbelt area off MoPac and into city shelter facilities.

The outside services also come in addition to certain city departments' focus on specific properties, such as park space.

“Austin Resource Recovery and the Parks and Recreation Department are partnering on efforts that address homeless encampments on parkland. Additionally, Austin Water has the need for cleanup services on environmentally sensitive areas of the Wildlands,” the document states.

Shelter specifics

Separately, Endeavors, a San Antonio-based service organization, is lined up to oversee a new 300-bed homeless shelter opening on the east side. Council will vote to spend $9.14 million for that work.

Interim City Manager Jesús Garza in May announced plans to open the new shelter at the Austin Convention Center Marshaling Yard off US 183 and Hwy. 71. If approved, funding for Endeavors' operations there would be pulled from Austin's allocation of the American Rescue Plan Act federal relief package, of which around $100 million was reserved for homelessness strategy.

The new shelter is set to open after the city recently doubled up the capacity at its Northbridge and Southbridge shelters. Officials also voted in June to spend millions of dollars to maintain dozens of beds downtown at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless and the former Salvation Army facility next door.

The focus on such spaces comes as Austin continues to seek out both shelter and permanent supportive housing additions for those exiting homelessness, resources the city sorely lacks. A recent review found the region doesn't compare favorably to many others when looking at the number of shelter beds available for the thousands of unsheltered Austin and Travis County residents.