AUSTIN, Texas — An emergency homeless shelter in southeast Austin is set to stay open for longer than anticipated.
It comes as city leaders plan to formally extend operations at the Marshalling Yard Emergency Shelter in southeast Austin next week.
The shelter has served more than 1,000 people since it opened, despite being designed to only serve as a temporary solution.”It’s demonstrated a need for that type of emergency shelter within our system we are going to approve, [and] I believe some additional funding to keep it operational through the next fiscal year, so September,” said Austin City Council Member District 5, Ryan Alter. “And also figure out where it fits into the overall need; do we want to continue operating the Marshalling Yard? Do we want to move that somewhere else?”
There are around 6,000 people that are homeless on any given day in Austin, and leaders are working to find more shelter bed space and long-term solutions.
On Thursday, Alter and other city leaders toured shelters and permanent housing resources throughout the city, like the Marshalling Yard, the Arch Downtown, Bridge Shelters and the Esperanza Community in southeast Austin.
“Austin has a very robust homeless response system, but its full, we are utilizing every bed, service we have,” Alter said.
The Esperanza Community is filled with tiny homes and access to services like crisis management and substance use support. Alter said more spots like that are part of the solution.“These kind of micro shelter types. It is a shelter model that works,” Alter said.