Dear Mayor Adler, Mayor Pro Tem Harper-Madison, and City Council Members,
Dear Judge Brown and Travis County Commissioners,
The Austin Housing Coalition (AHC) is requesting that the Austin City Council and the Travis County Commissioners each commit $100M from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) towards fully funding the Homelessness Summit Plan. The Summit to Address Unsheltered Homelessness in Austin brought together Homelessness service providers, business and philanthropic partners, and social justice advocates to comprehensively address this issue. These stakeholders worked together to create an ambitious plan that aims to fully rehouse unsheltered Austinites, stabilize housing conditions to avert imminent risks, and revamp our rehousing system to improve overall performance in an equitable manner.
In 2021, 3,160 individuals were experiencing homelessness in Austin/Travis County, according to data from the Homelessness Response System. Funding this plan will be critical for achieving the following:
- Creation of more than 3000 homes and housing 5,000+ people in the next 3 years.
- This will be achieved through providing a mix of low-barrier rapid rehousing
and permanent supportive housing opportunities, in addition to existing
housing efforts.
- This will be achieved through providing a mix of low-barrier rapid rehousing
- Improve Service Provider Capacity & Responsiveness.
- This will be accomplished through increasing staff capacity by adding new
culturally proficient case-managers, outreach staff, and housing navigators. - This funding must support improving and expanding the cultural proficiency
of outreach efforts that are informed and led by lived-experience advocates.
- This will be accomplished through increasing staff capacity by adding new
- Rehouse People Equitably.
- Rehousing must be based on the health and safety needs of those
experiencing houselessness and designed to prioritize addressing the
inequities that exist within the unhoused community.
- Rehousing must be based on the health and safety needs of those
We believe this is a prime opportunity to significantly address unsheltered homelessness through increased capacity and resources. By committing $100M towards the implementation of this plan puts reaching functional zero homelessness within our grasp. We thank you all for your commitment to addressing homelessness in our community and for your leadership on this issue. If you have any questions, please email Brittany Baize at baize@familyeldercare.org or Sabrina Butler at sabrina.butler@foundcom.org.