Seabrook Square II, a 60-unit permanent supportive housing community run by Integral Care, began welcoming residents in mid-August. (Jessica McLaren/Community Impact)
A new East Austin community, Seabrook Square II, will house sixty people who have experienced chronic homelessness, according to local mental health authority Integral Care.
Travis County officials counted 3,238 people experiencing homelessness, a 36% jump from 2023, with 44% reporting it was their first time without stable housing, county data shows.
The details
Residents must be single adults who have experienced at least one year of homelessness—consecutive or cumulative—and a documented disabling condition to qualify for one of the efficiency apartments, as outlined in the agency’s 2023 funding application.
Fourteen residents moved in the week of Aug. 17; four more referrals are in process, with additional residents arriving in waves of about 15, said Kristi Kaiser, Integral Care's practice administrator for housing and healthcare in its homeless initiatives.
An efficiency apartment at Seabrook Square II includes a full kitchen with a stove, microwave, bed and move-in kit. (Jessica McLaren/Community Impact)
A full-time team, including a program manager, licensed therapist and two peer support specialists with lived experience of homelessness or behavioral health conditions, provides voluntary wraparound services, Kaiser said. Security is on site 24/7.
Amenities include shared laundry, community areas, a donation-run food pantry, recurring art and cooking classes and outdoor courtyard seating, she said.
A landscaped courtyard sits between Seabrook Square II and its parking garage. (Jessica McLaren/Community Impact)
How it works
Rent is capped at 30% of income, or $0 for residents with none, under a standard Texas lease, Kaiser said. Treatment and sobriety aren't required, a model known as Housing First, and there is no waitlist.
Referrals come through the county's Coordinated Entry system, run by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, which prioritizes by vulnerability, Kaiser said.
Integral Care's on-site services are exclusive to Seabrook Square II; residents next door at Seabrook Square I aren't eligible, though anyone in the community can access the agency’s behavioral health clinic as well as Lone Star Circle of Care's primary care clinic on Airport Boulevard, Kaiser said.
A closer look
Unit layouts were shaped by feedback from the mental health authority’s two earlier supportive housing sites, Terrace at Oak Springs and Bungalows at Century Park, said Program Chief Marlene Buchanan.
One change: beds now tuck into their own alcove, separated from the entryway and kitchen, after residents asked for more privacy. Coffee makers and electric kettles are the most-requested move-in kit items, she said.
Buchanan (left) and Deputy Director of Specialty Programs Kali Holyfield (right) walk through design choices in a show unit. (Jessica McLaren/Community Impact)
A suicide-prevention barrier lines every level of the parking garage—a response to Integral Care's internal death review process, Buchanan said. Decorative cutout paneling replaces traditional bars so it doesn't read as institutional.
The J.J. Seabrook mural is visible through a decorative cutout barrier in a breezeway, ahead of its formal unveiling. (Jessica McLaren/Community Impact)
What they're saying
"It is home for people," Kaiser said. "It's just so many different, unique lives, and it's just such an opportunity for people to get the chance to rebuild."
She described watching residents find relief in small moments, like opening a refrigerator for the first time in years, or learning they'll have weekly food pantry access, as among the most rewarding parts of the work.
A mailbox carries outsized meaning for many residents, a representative for Integral Care said—proof of a permanent address after years without one.
Mailboxes line the first-floor mail room at Seabrook Square II. (Jessica McLaren/Community Impact)
What's next
County health and civic leaders, officials and community members gathered Aug. 28 to celebrate the opening, per the mental health authority.
On Sept. 18, the agency will unveil a mural honoring Dr. J.J. Seabrook, the building's namesake and a former Huston-Tillotson College president credited with relocating Austin's airport and commissioning Martin Luther King Boulevard as an East-West connector.
Get involved
Integral Care's food pantry runs on donations, made at integralcare.org. Donations can be dropped off at the agency's administrative offices, but not at clinics, Kaiser said.
