The big picture
Last year, the region's homelessness response system coordinator reported on a rising number of people experiencing homelessness in Austin and Travis County, and a related increase in local service needs. The Ending Community Homelessness Coalition also called for various investments that would be needed to ensure they had access to shelter, housing and other resources.
Using that information, council members recently backed a proposal based on ECHO's projections that would see hundreds of millions of dollars invested in those resources over 10 years. The plan contemplates city, county, local service organizations, and private donor and philanthropist funding to add the hundreds of shelter spaces and new housing units ECHO says are needed annually.
Council directed city staff to examine how Austin's budget could support that work in the coming years, and a report back is expected in March.
The approach
A key piece of the plan—and one of its most expensive elements—would be the addition of more than 4,000 new units of permanent supportive housing by the mid-2030s.
PSH includes longer-term rental support, and on-site health and social resources, with average stays lasting months to years for tenants exiting homelessness. PSH availability has recently expanded in the community with hundreds of units added in 2024, and hundreds more anticipated in the next two years alone.
City-funded PSH includes a trio of hotels that have been converted into housing along with several new developments. Going forward, the city has signaled it's likely to stick with only new construction, although Homeless Strategy Officer David Gray previously said various options will still be explored.
Several projects opening in 2025 and 2026 are funded by the city, as well as Travis County's housing collaborative that's used federal relief dollars to advance the projects. Still, ECHO and city representatives say much more of the costly housing resource will be needed to hit the benchmarks called for in the new investment strategy.
“That goal is certainly ambitious and challenging," interim Housing Director Mandy DeMayo told council Feb. 5. "The projects pipeline and recent projects like the hotel conversions ... is the result of $137.2 million of investment by the city of Austin into this permanent supportive housing. On average, it’s about $140,000 per PSH unit."
That total only covers capital costs like construction, DeMayo said, and doesn't include ongoing funding for services and rental assistance. She also said there's "every indication" that federal support tied to PSH will be drying up as more new complexes open their doors, a gap for local providers and governments may need to fill.
What's next
City officials will review more details on the potential funding plan through this spring and into summer budget discussions after previously prioritizing several homelessness funding measures during last year's budgeting process.
In the meantime, DeMayo said city housing staff continue to support new PSH development proposals that are seeking state funding support; several of those would add hundreds of units through the 2020s. She also said a consultant has been helping the city prioritize adding PSH on some of its dozens of acres of vacant land reserved for affordable housing.
“We’re reviewing that portfolio analysis right now and then we’ll be able to say which of the parcels we anticipate going out for solicitation first," she said.
