Austin’s homeless trends fly in the face of national averages

Homeless person

Homelessness in Austin continues to trend in the wrong direction compared to much of the nation.
As the nationwide average of homelessness has gone down 15{870dce3150dcce8b7f57e497f1835ac6446de711f3b298b842add65a7b4249b0} in the past 12 years, Austin has seen consistent annual increases. Cynthia Nagendra with the National Alliance to End Homelessness said a housing-first approach is the answer, but shelters can’t be allowed to fall apart like we’ve seen at the ARCH: “Giving them something more substantial to take people too, certainly it could be a shelter that people actually want to go to.”
Staff recommendations have renewed the council’s focus on new shelters, but Nagendra said that will all be for naught if council can’t find a tangible strategy for transition to permanent housing.

(Photo:Shutterstock/Philip Arno Photography)

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