AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Public Health (APH) says it has found insufficient evidence to substantiate allegations of unsafe and unsanitary conditions inside one of the City's shelters for people experiencing homelessness.
The announcement from APH comes after an exclusive KVUE report about safety concerns and the conditions inside the City of Austin's Northbridge shelter, located just off Interstate 35 in North Austin. That report sparked an internal audit.
In August, a whistleblower from the shelter came to KVUE and a member of the Austin City Council with concerns about safety and a lack of action regarding the shelter. A staff member sent KVUE photos and videos from inside the shelter, showing guns, other weapons and drugs. The staff member said all of those things were found inside clients' rooms.
However, in a memo sent to the mayor and city council members on Wednesday, APH Director Adrienne Sturrup said after conducting an audit, APH found that those photos were taken during resident intakes and room checks, saying that clients have to surrender unsafe items before they come into the shelter.
APH also said the gun shown in the photos was a pellet gun that was confiscated during intake.
Shelter staff previously told KVUE that at least two people have died in the shelter in the last year-and-a-half. The APH memo states that one person died from an overdose at the shelter last October and that shelter staff carry Narcan to reverse overdoses.
The memo recommends improving training for shelter staff, establishing incident report procedures, finalizing operating procedures and maintaining a more detailed log of what is confiscated by security inside the shelter. APH said these recommendations are being implemented immediately.
The memo goes on to state that the Austin Police Department (APD) also conducted a safety assessment at Northbridge but found that there hasn't been a pattern of violent crime inside. APD recommended adding lighting, cameras and signage around the shelter to tell clients what the rules are, and the department also concluded that having unarmed security at the shelter has been ineffective.
KVUE reached out to APH for more details and to see the full internal audit. APH staff said the two-page memo released this week is the audit and declined to send more information.