Homelessness

The city will use a combination of COVID relief money and general fund dollars to support the shelter through September 2025, but will then have to find a more permanent solution.

Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center said the attorney general's lawsuit could have a chilling effect on nonprofits that provide services in Austin.

Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center has provided care for a variety of needs, including food and health care assistance, since 2015. The lawsuit accuses the nonprofit of being a "common nuisance" to the neighborhood.

The changes mean the city will open overnight shelters when the temperatures are 35 degrees and below and will provide notification of opening up to one day before.

Roughly 208 people died this year, according to the president of House the Homeless, which hosts the annual memorial.

Since 2020, the number of people under 25 years old without permanent housing and not under the care of a parent or legal guardian has nearly quadrupled, according to a nonprofit that tracks this issue.

The shelter was set to close in March, but will now operate until a new location is found, city officials said. The city is not yet sure how it will pay for it.

The Marshalling Yard was supposed to close in August, but a contract to operate the shelter was extended. Finding a place to relocate people has proved challenging, so the contract could get extended again.

The idea was simple. Take existing hotel rooms and turn them into apartments. It would be quick and cheap, elected officials said. However, opening Pecan Gardens was anything but.

Most of Austin's cooling centers close around 6 or 8 p.m., when the heat is often still in the triple digits. High temperatures and heavy humidity can also persist overnight.