The Austin City Council votes to open a new homeless shelter in South Austin.
The city is looking at buying a site for the new shelter in the coming weeks. They aren’t saying an exact location, other than South Austin. Caritas CEO Jo Kathryn Quinn says this is badly needed. “We recognize that with the drastic increase in the number of unshelter people that an additional shelter makes a lot of sense.” One hope is that this new shelter will clean up the homeless camps that keep growing along Ben White near Manchaca.
The Austin City Council also took in testimony over the a pair of city homeless ordinances, getting ready to make a final call in the next council session.
Mayor Steve Adler says the community needs to focus on what should be done with a homeless person that is not presenting a public health or safety issue. Adler says, however, that it’s important that they not take away tools for enforcement officials to address aggressive behavior and public health issues.
The Salvation Army has opened the first phase of a new homeless shelter in East Austin. The Rathgeber Center will soon be home to more than 200 people. This week, the Salvation Army cut the ribbon on that first phase. When complete, it will offer homeless families a place to call home. Austin homeless coordinator Veronica Briseno says the Salvation Army will transport families to the new shelter once it’s fully operational.
Right now, the downtown Salvation Army shelter is for families, but my moving them to the Rathgeber Center, the downtown location would begin allowing individuals to stay there nightly.
(Photo: Shutterstock by Andre Popov)
