In spring 2021, city leaders facilitated the first Summit to Address Unsheltered Homelessness in Austin – the purpose of the summit was to develop an implementation strategy to effectively and significantly reduce unsheltered homelessness in the city. In the next three years local leaders are determined to rehouse 3000 people experiencing homelessness and add 200 staff to culturally-reflective providers, fortifying their capacity. To achieve these momentous outcomes, the Summit determined that a financial investment of $515M, from both the private and public sectors, would be required. As of October, Austin has reached 78% of their investment goal – with the city and county committing $268M in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to support the strategy.
The City of Austin is determined to close this nearly 25% gap, which will require $115M in additional investment. Austin will partner with FUSE Corps to develop a sustainable funding and investment plan for addressing unsheltered homelessness in the city. The FUSE Executive Fellow will develop a long-term investment framework that will integrate all possible private and public financial resource streams that could be utilized to support crisis services, housing programs, targeted prevention, rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing. This work will ensure funds are effectively and efficiently spent on adding housing capacity and building a better system, supporting Austin in reaching the ambitious goal of becoming one of the first cities of its size to end homelessness.
