AUSTIN, Texas — Lost and distraught is how Patrick Nichols found an elderly woman at a construction site on Lyndhurst Street about a month ago.
"She doesn't have any shoes on, you know. She just, she looked bad off," Nichols said. "Her face was all bruised up. I mean, it looked like something terrible happened."
Nichols decided to call the Austin Police Department (APD). Help arrived in the form of Detectives Daniel Portnoy and Brandon Moxley.
"After receiving information from the construction workers, the poor woman was homeless," Portnoy said. "She didn't have any family in the city. She was from another town, and we started trying to find resources for her so that she could have a safe place to be at."
For several hours, the detectives worked with a victim crisis counselor to find the woman a safe place for the night. But they discovered no shelters could take her in. So the detectives bought a hotel room for her at their own expense.
"It's very frightening and horrifying to know that sometimes, no matter what kind of options you may have as far as help from the government, you still won't find a place to stay," Portnoy said.
Connie Geerhart with Victim Services said they see this situation once a week, where they get called on by an officer who encounters a person without a place to stay.
"And we have to say, you know, 'If there's no domestic violence or sexual assault, there isn't even any place we can try calling,'" Geerhart said.
A City of Austin spokesperson said there is one shelter bed for every five people experiencing homelessness in Austin. In July, the Homeless Strategy Office presented data showing the need to add nearly 1,000 emergency shelter beds to the community's shelter portfolio, particularly for single adults.
"So far, long-term help is eluding this poor woman and it's scary," Portnoy said. "I think it should be alarming to pretty much everybody, no matter what your situation is."
The City spokesperson also said the City is working with community groups to identify more units for rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing.