Austin City Council approves extension of Marshalling Yard emergency shelter operations

City of Austin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release Date: Apr. 18, 2024
Contact: Homeless Strategy Office Email

The move will keep the shelter, originally approved for a 12-month term, open through March 2025

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin City Council unanimously approved adding an eight-month extension to a contract with Endeavors, the organization that operates a temporary emergency homeless shelter at the Austin Convention Center Marshaling Yard Warehouse, to continue shelter operations at least through March 2025. <_o3a_p>

The City Council first approved using the facility, now known as the Marshaling Yard Emergency Shelter, as a temporary shelter in July 2023.<_o3a_p>

"The Marshaling Yard Emergency Shelter provides compassionate care to 300 clients daily and the rate of clients exiting the shelter successfully continues to climb," Austin's Homeless Strategy Officer David Gray said. "In partnership with Endeavors we are continuing to improve and expand services offered at the shelter, allowing us to make a positive impact on hundreds of lives daily and meet the immediate needs of many experiencing homelessness."<_o3a_p>

"Emergency shelter capacity is a critical piece of a multi-faceted approach to making homelessness brief, rare,and nonrecurring. As we meet those immediate needs, we must also focus on case management, access to mental health care, and creating more housing opportunities." <_o3a_p>

The Marshaling Yard Emergency Shelter has a yearly goal of serving 800 individuals experiencing homelessness and, to date, has served 596 individuals with over four months remaining on their original 12-month contract term. In addition to case management services, clients of the Marshalling Yard Emergency Shelter access daily transportation services, three healthy and nutritious meals per day, pet-friendly onsite boarding and pet food, onsite laundry services, onsite showering facilities, wellness activities and a patio for outdoor activities. <_o3a_p>

The eight-month extension will cost $500,000, for a revised total agreement amount not to exceed $9.64 million. The initiative is funded through money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) earmarked specifically for emergency shelter and crisis services.<_o3a_p>

Gray laid out the need for the extension at a Tuesday work session of the City Council. Based on the most current available data, Austin still needs 815 permanent shelter beds for individuals without children. There are 200 beds currently being added to existing shelters, leaving a gap of 615 beds. While this gap is down from 717 in July 2023, the local homeless response system still has too few permanent beds to meet the demand of Austin's unsheltered homeless population. <_o3a_p>

He also pointed out the successes so far - 20% of clients who left the Marshalling Yard exited positively, meaning they left the shelter to move into housing. This doubles the positive exit rate reported in January 2024, demonstrating that the City of Austin and homeless service providers are making meaningful progress in improving key outcomes.

To learn more about homelessness in Austin, please visit www.austintexas.gov/homelessness.<_o3a_p>