Austin council members support using hotels to house homeless, but are wary of locations and quick

[TexasTowelie]

Council members support using hotels to house homeless, but are wary of locations and quick timeline


Austin City Council members say they’re concerned about the timeline, placement and funding strategy for a plan to expand efforts to buy and retrofit hotels to house homeless Austinites.

Last month, Council OK’d a plan to buy the Rodeway Inn near Oltorf and Interstate 35 to house at least 87 people. At their work session Tuesday, members were briefed on a similar plan to buy hotels to house as many as 300 people in what’s called bridge housing – a strategy that allows people to move in without preconditions.

Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza, who generally supports the idea, said she’s concerned the city is doubling down on a strategy that hasn’t been tested yet. She also noted the housing could be concentrated primarily in low-income neighborhoods.

“I hope as we continue these searches for these needed facilities, we sincerely do look throughout the city,” she said. “Because I will have big concerns if every single one of these is going to be in the majority-minority parts of our town.”

Read more: https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2019/12/council-members-support-using-hotels-to-house-homeless-but-are-wary-of-locations-and-quick-timeline/

[delisen]

1. This seems like a step forward to me.

One thing that can help is having enough people in a city feel comfortable in getting to know individual homeless people and families. So many homeless persons I have come to know don't expect me to solve their problems-but appreciate being treated with respect, be acknowledged, greeted, asking how things are going for them in job searches or assistance.

Sometimes people just want to talk.