AUSTIN (KXAN) — After Austin city council voted to move forward with a resolution that makes homelessness a funding priority for the city, housing staff updated council members on progress the city has made with one big piece of that puzzle -- permanent supportive housing.
Permanent supportive housing typically targets people exiting homelessness with the greatest need. It provides people with wrap-around services like mental health treatment, case management and peer support.
$350M over 10 years: Austin City Council votes to prioritize homelessness spendingSome examples of permanent supportive housing projects include Pecan Gardens, the former hotel in northwest Austin that was converted into housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness. Another example is Espero at Rutland, which are apartments for people exiting homelessness. That has been open for roughly a year.
Housing staff said in a public health committee meeting this week that there are currently 480 "site-based" permanent supportive housing units in operation in Austin. There are nearly 900 additional in the pipeline for the next few years, staff reported. That makes 1,345 total permanent supportive housing units either in operation or in the pipeline.
"I just tallied all of those up and that is the result of $137.2 million of investment by the city of Austin into this permanent supportive housing. On average, it's about $140,000 per PSH unit and that represents over 1,100 units of PSH," Interim Housing Director Mandy DeMayo said.
That funding primarily comes from General Obligation bonds, according to DeMayo, though there are some additional funding sources in that mix. It doesn't include the funding required to provide services or operations.
"We need folks to continue to focus on services. I always say if you build it they will come, but if you don't provide the support they won't stay," said Marlene Buchanan, Director of Systems of Care at Integral Care, Austin-Travis County's mental health authority. She addressed the city council's resolution when she talked to KXAN about the $14 million in federal dollars granted to Austin-area groups working to address homelessness.
How many more units are needed?
A report from ECHO modeling Austin-Travis County homelessness, which included a look at how many permanent supportive housing units are needed to meet "functional zero," shows the city needs 4,175 additional units. According to the report, that could cost nearly $217.5 million.
"The need and the scale that we have here in Austin, the city just can't fund it alone," Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes said. "We had a public health committee meeting and we continue to receive updates on the permanent supportive housing piece so it's certainly something that we will continue to talk about."
What happens if we don't spend the money?
Even though that price tag is high, groups that provide permanent supportive housing resources say the city may actually spend more on people experiencing homelessness should they not fund housing and services.
$350M over 10 years: Austin City Council votes to prioritize homelessness spending"The return on investment of keeping the individuals out of emergency rooms, out of hospitals, out of psychiatric care is phenomenal. So here at Integral Care we do a lot of return on investment analysis and we see a cost savings of often over $1 million for these PSH projects," Buchanan said.
That sentiment was echoed in a report published by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO, which was shared by Travis County Judge Andy Brown at a news conference on homelessness funding last week.
According to Brown, over the span of roughly five years in Austin-Travis County, more than 360 people experiencing homelessness died in a hospital. The report showed the cost for those people's medical care in the year before their death was collectively more than $11 million.
Brown said the money used for that care could have funded more than 80% of the permanent supportive housing services or rent required for the same group of people.
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