The city of Austin is making progress to fill the gap of critical permanent supportive housing units and emergency shelter beds to serve the city’s homeless population, city leaders said Tuesday.
Shelter bed capacity has increased, the city is serving a record number of individuals experiencing homelessness in it’s shelters and there are 1,000 new permanent supportive housing units estimated to be constructed by the end of 2026, according to a presentation by the city’s Homeless Strategy Officer David Gray and Jamey May with the Housing Department.
As progress has been made, there is still work to be done to close the gap in shelter beds and permanent supportive housing units for the homeless population which has nearly doubled in Austin since January 2022.
Data provided to the American-Statesman in December by ECHO (Ending Community Homelessness Coalition), showed that while there have been increases, Austin has trailed behind other Texas metros and large cities nationwide in overall bed capacity for years.