At least $350M over 10 years: Austin City Council to vote on homelessness spending
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Thursday, Austin City Council is expected to vote on a resolution that could make homelessness a top financial priority for the city. The resolution could direct the city manager to increase spending starting with the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget.
'I am really proud that one of the first items that we'll take up on Thursday at our first council meeting is prioritizing investments in homelessness. That includes having additional funding for shelter, for housing and prevention,' Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes said. Fuentes is the chair of the Public Health Committee which unanimously voted to send this item to the full dais.
The resolution largely does the following, according to Fuentes' team:
Explore new and lasting funding sources to replace expiring federal funds, including American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars
Invest significant funding into emergency shelters, permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing
Expand prevention and diversion programs
You can read the full resolution here.
If passed, the city manager will be asked to bring an update back to the Public Health Committee by March. In that update, the city will also be asked to identify one-time funding needs versus ongoing expenses.
In November, the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) presented modeling for Austin's homelessness response system to that same council committee — including how many shelter beds and permanent housing units the city may need over the next decade.
ECHO said the number of additional shelter or housing units required to 'meet functional zero' over the next ten years includes:
550 new emergency shelter beds
2,355 rapid re-housing units
4,175 permanent supportive housing units
Altogether, building out those beds or units alone could cost the city an estimated nearly $350 million. The breakdown is as follows:
$24,399,259 for emergency shelter beds over the next ten years
$104,473,188 for rapid re-housing
$217,411,093 for permanent supportive housing
You can find ECHO's full State of the Homelessness Response System report here.
Council members are also expected to discuss proposed amendments to the resolution, including several from Public Health Committee Member Ryan Alter. That includes working on an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) update for future budget conversations.
'Adding a couple things to identify, first and foremost, the ARPA cliff that is coming and really understanding what programs that we have been operating via ARPA dollars, do we think we should continue to operate and if so, how we're going to fund those in the upcoming budget,' District 5's Austin City Council Member Ryan Alter said during last month's Public Health Committee meeting.
Alter also asked the city manager to put forward a plan around how the city may accomplish its goal of building enough permanent supportive housing units to meet demand. Those units often take years to build and are expensive both in the short and long term, Alter said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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