AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin City Council just signed off on a $5.9 billion budget, the largest yet in city history. Some of that money will also go towards sheltering people experiencing homelessness and for programs to improve downtown safety.
Downtown Austin Alliance senior vice president Bill Brice talked with KXAN about the funding and how it will impact downtown Austin.
“Addressing problems like homelessness and public safety take coordinated systems and creative approaches,” Brice said. “Council allocated more than $2 million to shelter, to help bolster up shelter, $2 million to permanent supportive housing operations, but also $400,000 to fund outreach downtown through a pilot started by the Downtown Austin Alliance, its called HEART.”
HEART is a program that helps people experiencing homelessness connect with the resources they need. Brice said investing in HEART can change more peoples lives and help to get them off the streets.
“We know that if you can’t get people under a roof, in the system quickly when they become homeless then there’s the likelihood that people become chronically homeless, then need those most expensive resources,” Brice said.
Brice said more work has to be done, but this funding will go a long way.
“We know that what a lot of what affects people perception of a place being safe is what they see out on the street,” Brice said. “It is not so much as real crime that effects people, but what they see in terms of people that might have behavioral health issues, people living unsheltered on the streets in unclean conditions and these are the things Downtown Austin Alliance focuses on and works very closely with the city of Austin.”