Austin Councilmember Jimmy Flannigan says the city is trying to address the temporary housing shortage for the homeless. Flannigan says Council has been willing to do what it takes last couple of years to allocate resources for the spectrum of homelessness. The hard part is picking the plan. So now Flannigan says City Manager Spencer Cronk, “is picking a Chief Homelessness Director or Officer or whatever the title is going to be, in order to help coordinate, not just the work that the public does; through ECHO and Ann Howard but also this pot of money that we’re developing.”
Flannigan says they’re counting on visitors to help pick up more of the tab. “So with the expansion of the Convention Center that will hopefully be approved this week, there will be an additional four to ten million dollars a year that the tourism industry will be contributing to this issue.”
Flannigan says the new Land Development Code re-write could be a tool in the box to help fight homelessness. A change in the land use from larger McMansion type single-family homes would help those who might be the next to fall. “So that we allow more tiny homes, that we allow more dense housing that we allow the type of housing that will become more affordable to individuals so that they can avoid approaching that scale of homelessness.”