Mayor issues challenge to end veteran homelessness

The best way to go about solving the issue is for the city to partner with and support nonprofit groups, Leffingwell said. If not, a large financial burden would befall Austin, he said.

"The city of Austin's role is to support them and to provide seed money," Leffingwell said. "The reason I've consistently supported that is I believe if they didn't do it, if they didn't exist, somebody would have to or we'd have a huge, big problem that would wind up in our lap and cost us a lot more at the end of the day."

Partnerships with Veterans Affairs, the Housing Authority of the city of Austin, landlords and local agencies have already helped 400 veteran families find stable housing, according to a news release.