$100M: Austin mayor responds to skepticism about homelessness spending
AUSTIN (KXAN) — There are several numbers floating around about how much the city of Austin may need to spend on homelessness: From the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition's estimate that $350 million is needed to build out Austin-Travis County's homelessness response system in the next 10 years, to an even more recent estimate from Austin's Homeless Strategy Office that the city is roughly $100 million short next fiscal year to respond to homelessness the way it hopes to.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson admits, he understands some skepticism from the community about how much the city needs to spend on the issue.
'I think when I came in, there was a whole lot of talk about, well, 'what's this number, and what's that number?' And 'I thought we were going to do this.' And I think people were skeptical. It's been slower than I would like, and I so I understand skepticism in that regard, but now I think we have the plan from our Homeless Strategy Officer, who's doing a very good job,' Watson said.
The city is not proposing it spends $350 million on homelessness and then $100 million on top of that. So let's break down how the city got to each of those numbers:
The $350 million estimate comes from the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO)'s State of the Homelessness Response System report. It looks at the entire community — including private partners, the city of Austin, the state and federal government and Travis County — and what it would need to meet demand over the next decade.
ECHO said the number of additional shelter or housing units required to 'meet functional zero' over the next 10 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
In response to that report, Austin leaders approved a resolution committing to prioritizing homelessness spending in its next budget cycle.
'What I have said from the very beginning is, I want to hear what others predict or others speculate we'll need, or others in their expertise tell us we need,' Watson said.
In an Audit and Finance Committee and Public Health Committee joint meeting last month, David Gray, the city's Homeless Strategy Officer, said his office has identified $101 million in funding needs for fiscal year 2026 to address homelessness at the capacity the city wants to.
Austin's homeless strategy office identifies $101 million needed for new strategies to address issues
'About a third of these considerations are current one-time funding that we believe council should consider for ongoing investment,' Gray said. 'A third is new investment considerations for the city, and a third is new investment considerations for our homeless response system partners.'
Watson pointed to Gray's analysis as being the number he would like the city to base its current budget discussions around. After all, he said the Homeless Strategy Office was created to do this very work.
'We in the city of Austin now have a Homeless Strategy Office that we have charged with the responsibility of putting together the plan, and it's now a detailed, thoughtful, appropriate plan, and therefore that's who I want to turn to,' Watson said. He later added: 'We'll take the data, we'll take the information from others, but it's going to be us that makes those final decisions.'
The city of Austin is already working through its budget for fiscal year 2026, which won't be voted on until this fall. The city also has a bond advisory commission working through a possible November 2026 bond package that could include funding for homelessness.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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