AUSTIN, Texas — In Austin, there are more homeless encampments than there are shelters.
It's a problem Mayor Kirk Watson says he wants to fix.
On July 27, Watson announced a partnership between the City of Austin and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) after a months-long process to invest $65 million to expand emergency shelters and provide more resources for people experiencing homelessness.
The funds will be given through planning and distributed evenly among three nonprofit groups: The Other Ones Foundation (TOOF), Caritas of Austin and Lifeworks.
The goal is for the vast majority of the money to go toward a non-congregate shelter through TOOF, which would add at least 700 additional beds.
Roughly $5 million will then be split evenly between Caritas of Austin and Lifeworks to be utilized through rental assistance and housing stability.
In a one-on-one interview with KVUE, Watson stressed the importance of meeting the need so people who experiencing homelessness can get help.
"What you will see me continue to do is advocate for the full continuum, so that we can not only address the needs of those of our neighbors that are living homeless, but also address the desires of the voters of the City of Austin," Watson said.
Currently, there is only one shelter bed for every five people experiencing homelessness, according to Austin Homeless Services. Watson said the City is short 1,000 beds, which are needed by 2025.
"This makes a big step toward meeting our needs by 2025, and we'll continue to figure out how we address that," Watson said.
Watson pointed to other steps being taken, such as the city council recently giving the greenlight to turn the Austin Convention Marshalling Yard into a temporary emergency shelter, which would provide 300 additional beds. Last month, leaders also gave the go-ahead to convert the Salvation Army on East Eighth Street into a temporary emergency shelter.
Although both contracts are only for one year, Watson said he believes they are signs of steps being taken to address the homeless situation.
"We need rapid rehousing, we need emergency shelter beds and all the way up to permanent supportive housing," Watson said.
Watson also touched on better enforcing the City's camping ban, which was reinstated in 2021. The ban makes it illegal for people to sleep on streets and sidewalks in public areas – a move that has forced a bulk of people to move farther away from Austin.
Watson noted that without shelters, those who are unhoused don't have many options.
"If there's a group of people in an encampment here and you go to them and say, 'you can't camp here,' where do they go if you don't have a place for them to go? Which is what I'm working to provide," Watson said.
Before Watson was in office, the City had already committed to an effort worth more than $500 million to address homelessness, which Watson said is slowly being allocated.
"The City has dedicated that to primarily permanent supportive housing, and so that money has gone to different entities for the building of permanent supportive housing," Watson said.
The City has a deadline on the $65 million, which will need to be used by the 2025 deadline. Watson said the next step is to meet with officials at TDHCA to get the planning process started and hopefully turn what has been a crisis in the Capital City into a path forward for people experiencing homelessness.
"We still have a long ways to go, but this puts a big dent in it," Watson said.