Connect with us

Austin, TX

ECHO's $350M plan offers to 'effectively end' homelessness in Austin – Austin Monitor

Published

on

ECHO's 0M plan offers to 'effectively end' homelessness in Austin – Austin Monitor


Friday, November 8, 2024 by Chad Swiatecki

The city is projected to need $35 million annually over a 10-year period to effectively end homelessness via a plan that emphasizes adding hundreds of permanent supportive housing units while also addressing emergency shelter and prevention steps to keep people from losing their homes.

City Council’s Public Health Committee met on Wednesday and received a presentation from the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) on the recently completed modeling and forecasting of the city’s homelessness trends. The 10-year plan is seen as a way to move the city’s high numbers of chronically homeless individuals back into stable housing while efficiently providing aid to stop at-risk residents and families from losing their homes.

The report focuses on expanding housing capacity across emergency shelters, rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing, with total costs expected to reach around $24.4 million for 550 emergency shelter units, $104.5 million for 2,355 rapid rehousing units and $217.4 million for 4,175 permanent supportive units. The plan proposes an annual, staged investment schedule that anticipates shifts in available funding, such as the expiration of specific federal support from the American Rescue Plan that the city has relied on in recent years.

Kate Moore, vice president of ECHO’s homelessness response system strategy, said the number of chronically homeless people – from 25 percent to 30 percent of those who are in the agency’s management system – is larger than peer cities and other major cities in Texas. Moore said part of that anomaly comes from the city not adding permanent supporting housing units commensurate with its sharp population growth.

Advertisement

“We’re already seeing an increase in people moving into (new) permanent supportive housing. This will help us address this but we need to keep our eye on this number,” she said. “Despite this large growth in the (Homeless Response) System, we are still playing catch-up. Austin’s inventory of shelter and housing remains the lowest among big cities in Texas and among the lowest among our peer cities.”

Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said she supported the plan, calling the total $350 million cost “a manageable number that we can make if we make the necessary strategic policy proposals.”

The recommended policy steps focus on an “inverted funnel” approach, in which more emphasis is placed on long-term housing and support rather than on simply expanding short-term shelter options. That strategy is intended to reduce the chronic, cyclical nature of homelessness by ensuring that more individuals transition to stable housing rather than relying on temporary solutions.

David Gray, the city’s homeless strategy officer, said his office is looking at what methods other major cities use to fund their homelessness response needs, with corporate giving and philanthropy added to all available sources of public funding.

The city’s next bond package in 2025 or 2026 is expected to include a substantial request for funding for housing and resources related to housing for those experiencing homelessness. Council Member Ryan Alter said the city also has to find approximately $50 million over the next two years to replace the Marshalling Yard emergency shelter and provide the money needed for rapid rehousing services.

Advertisement

With permanent supportive housing projects typically taking four-plus years to develop, Alter said the city needs to start finding ways to continue adding more permanent supportive housing units beyond those that were paid for in part with federal dollars.

“If we came here today with $100 million, $200 million, pick your number … we would have to start that process today to start meeting the need of 2028 and 2029 if we were acting quickly. These projects just take forever,” he said.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.

You’re a community leader

And we’re honored you look to us for serious, in-depth news. You know a strong community needs local and dedicated watchdog reporting. We’re here for you and that won’t change. Now will you take the powerful next step and support our nonprofit news organization?

Advertisement
Advertisement





Source link

Austin, TX

Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building

Published

on

Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building


Emo’s in Austin is on the move again. 

After more than a decade at 2015 E. Riverside Drive (following the original Red River-era venue closing in 2011), Emo’s current Riverside space will be taken over by AEG Presents when the lease ends later this year. The Los Angeles, CA-based company will assume operations in January 2027 and plans to reopen the building under a new name in early 2027 following upgrades, renovations and a full rebrand.

AEG are also opening a new 4,000-cap venue nearby next spring as part of the River Park mixed-use development in southeast Austin.

C3 Presents, who reopened Emo’s at the Riverside location, say this isn’t the end of Emo’s — they’re working on a new home and plan to move the venue back to downtown Austin, with more updates to come.

Advertisement

AEG Presents Vice President Robin Phillips shared the following:

There’s like no weirdness or any bad blood or anything. It just, you know, new lease and they’ll [Emo’s] go do something great. They have been important to the Austin music scene, so I have a lot of respect for them.

But I don’t think the Austin music scene or legacy is limited to one name. I know people will remember the original Emo’s and this Emo’s as, you know, both great venues… And I don’t think Austin’s music scene is just a name, it’s the artists, in my opinion.

 

A C3 spokesperson added:

Emo’s has a long history in Austin and we’ve been working behind the scenes for some time on a new home for this venue. After we wrap up at this venue in December, we will focus our efforts on our new location.

 

Advertisement

Emo’s gave the following statement to Austin local news KXAN:

We’re grateful for all of the fans and artists who’ve shaped Emo’s to what it is today: a community of like-minded people who love live music. We have a vision for our future and will be moving into a new building downtown that celebrates our punk rock roots with the new amenities that fans are looking for from a venue. We’ll continue to share updates on the next chapter for Emo’s on social media.





Source link

Continue Reading

Austin, TX

Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows

Published

on

Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows


State and federal agriculture officials said highly pathogenic avian flu has been found in a herd of dairy cows in Texas.

What we know:

Advertisement

Officials said the H5N1 virus was confirmed with laboratory tests in late May after cows at an unspecified farm became sick and milk production dropped. The dairy has since been quarantined and an investigation is underway.

This is the first case of avian flu in a Texas dairy herd this year, officials said.

What they’re saying:

Advertisement

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating H5N1, and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe,” officials at the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a statement.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026. (Tim Evans/Bloomberg / Getty Images)

Advertisement

Dig deeper:

H5N1 has a high rate of severe disease and death in animals that become infected.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk to the general public from avian flu is low. Some sporadic human infections have been reported around the world since 1997. There have been no known cases of person-to-person spreading of avian flu.

Advertisement

The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Animal Health Commission, the USDA, the FDA and the CDC.

TexasHealthPets and AnimalsFood and Drink



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Austin, TX

New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo

Published

on

New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo


Self-driving cars have become a common sight on Austin streets, but a new Texas law is adding tougher requirements for the companies behind the wheelless vehicles.

Senate Bill 2807 imposes stricter rules on autonomous vehicle companies operating in the state, including state authorization, emergency response plans for law enforcement, and a public portal where residents can verify operators and file safety complaints.

The changes come as Austin continues to track incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The city’s autonomous vehicle dashboard shows 75 incidents in 2026, including a collision, eight near misses, and seven incidents of ignoring police direction.

Attorney Drew Gibbs, a partner at Slingshot Law, said one crash involved a Waymo vehicle.

Advertisement

“There was a T-bone collision. A pretty serious T-bone collision where a Waymo just crashed into the side of my client’s vehicle,” Gibbs said.

ALSO| Waymo files voluntary software recall over flooded-lane risks on high-speed roads

KEYE

Advertisement

One of the incidents of ignoring police direction happened during the mass shooting on West Sixth Street back in March, when three people died, and 15 others were injured.

Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said autonomous vehicles can struggle in unusual situations.

“It didn’t impede on anything in the moment, but it’s not necessarily uncommon where these vehicles don’t quite know how to deal with these one-off scenarios,” Bullock said.

The new law requires autonomous vehicle companies to be authorized by the state, to provide an emergency response plan for law enforcement, and to participate in a public-facing portal that allows the public to verify operators and submit safety complaints.

Kara Kockelman, a professor of transportation and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, welcomed the added oversight.

Advertisement

“I’m glad that the state is taking this a bit more seriously now,” she said. “It’s important not to just let others slip in without kind of meeting those basic minimums.”

Bullock said the emergency planning requirement may not make a major difference in fast-moving situations. Asked how impactful it is to have a fully laid out emergency response plan, Bullock said, “These plans are great, but it takes time to work through all of those versus the immediacy of having someone behind the wheel.”

The four autonomous vehicle companies operating in Austin — Waymo, Zoox, AV-Ride, and Tesla — are all state-authorized.

The Texas DMV said an autonomous vehicle company can lose its authorization to operate in Texas if the agency deems the vehicles are operating in a way that endangers public safety.

Waymo was contacted for comment, but had not responded.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending