Austin Gains More Than $2.2M In Separate Funding To Combat Homelessness

AUSTIN, TX — City officials on Thursday announced that Austin has received a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the charity run by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to strengthen efforts to combat downtown homelessness.

With the award, Bloomberg Philanthropies added the city as the newest member of its Innovation Team program aimed at helping cities implement innovative approaches designed to change the culture in addressing issues related to municipal issues. The Austin grant focuses on the city's efforts toward solving the homeless issue, city officials said.

Austin joins an international group of cities receiving the Bloomberg grants, including Be’er Sheva, Israel; Toronto, Canada, and Anchorage, AK; Baltimore, Md; Detroit, Mi; and Durham; N.C. Currently in the third round of funding, the program will enable Mayor Steve Adler and the city council to fund an in-house innovation team, or “i-team", to pioneer new approaches on homelessness, the mayor said.

"This grant will help us tackle an problems in new ways that reflect who we are in Austin, and I'm excited to see what can come from this," Adler said. "When we effectively ended veteran homelessness, we learned how effective new partnerships between the business community, philanthropists and non-profits could be. Bloomberg's grant will allow our Innovation Office to experiment with new ways to house the homeless."

Innovation Teams are tasked with investigating complex local challenges, designing solutions with clear goals, and rigorously measuring progress to improve residents' lives, city officials said. Each selected city will be awarded up to $500,000 annually for up to three years. In addition to the grants, the city will receive robust implementation support and opportunities to exchange lessons learned and best practices with peers in other cities, officials noted.

More information about the Innovation Team Program is available through the Bloomberg Philanthropies website.

On another front, the city scored another victory related to combating homelessness. Coming off a successful 100-day challenge to house 50 youth, a local collaboration of public and private entities led by LifeWorks and the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) learned that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is awarding $5,227,483 to ECHO on behalf of the Austin/Travis County Continuum of Care, which is the group of local stakeholders working to end homelessness thru housing and support services, city officials announced Thursday.

Funded by the FY 2016 Appropriations Act, HUD announced that 10 communities–including four rural ones– will share $33 million under its Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP), which is newly created to help end youth homelessness by 2020. HUD’s Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS) received 130 applications, which underwent a comprehensive review by HUD, HHS and the U.S Interagency Council to End Homelessness.

The Austin application was prepared by staff at LifeWorks and ECHO and included 45 letters of support from across the community including from UT Dell Medical School, People’s Community Clinic, Austin Police Department, Children’s Protective Services, SAFE Alliance, Office of Travis County Sherriff, affordable housing providers, Front Steps, Austin Police Department, St. David’s Foundation, Goodwill and more, according to city officials.

"Many of these organizations will come together over then next several months to draft a comprehensive community plan to end youth homelessness, which will indicate what strategies should be funded by the grant," city officials said in a press release.

A youth advisory council with members who have been or who are now experiencing homelessness will help guide the planning and the investment. Upon HUD’s approval of the plan, ECHO will conduct a local competition for service providers interested in developing housing opportunities and services consistent with plan Austin will use funding to deepen collaboration and implement a variety of housing strategies including rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, both with intensive case management and to consider innovative programs, such as host homes and an emergency shelter specifically for youth. The grant can also support program evaluation and coordinated assessment for youth, Adler noted.

“Austin will solve homelessness in a way that reflects who we are,” the mayor said. “We effectively ended veteran homelessness in Austin because we brought business, philanthropists and homeless service providers to the same table to solve an old problem in a new way. This HUD grant is going to allow Austin’s new homeless team to level-up the great work it’s doing.”

Ann Howard, Executive Director of the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, noted that “this opportunity will allow us to expand on what we learned with our success in ending veterans’ homelessness and the recently completed 100 Day Challenge around youth homelessness. We have all the right partners at the table. This will help us build the systems and capacity to solve the problem.”

LifeWorks Executive Director Susan McDowell expounded on the need for this investment: “Homeless youth face so many barriers to housing, and this opportunity will allow us to establish both a community system and the continuum of housing options that will ensure success for youth, regardless of their challenges,” she said.

Austin organizations involved in this effort include ECHO, LifeWorks, Caritas of Austin, Integral Care, the Texas State Department of Family and Protective Services, Housing Authority of the City of Austin, Foundation for the Homeless, Restore Strategies/For the City, City of Austin, Travis County, Salvation Army, Front Steps, Workforce Solutions Capital Area, Safe Alliance, and Austin Independent School District-Project HELP.

Volunteers are needed to support efforts around ending homelessness. On January 28, ECHO and community partners will once again coordinate the annual Point in Time Count, a community-wide effort to count the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in our community, officials said. To register, visit the ECHO website.

ECHO is a coalition that provides dynamic, proactive leadership that engages policy makers and the community to end homelessness. ECHO serves as the HUD Continuum of Care Lead Agency and also administers the Homeless Management Information System. For its part, LifeWorks is a fearless advocate for youth and families who are finding their pathway to self-sufficiency. The organization provides support to thousands of Central Texans annually through housing, counseling and education/workforce support.

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