Caritas Of Austin's New Homeless Housing To Open In Fall 2022

Austin TX

07 May, 2021

10:00 AM

Description

AUSTIN, TX — Caritas of Austin plans to break ground on a new housing facility this summer that could help alleviate Austin's homeless population. Caritas, whose mission is to prevent and end homelessness, has collaborated with the Vecino Group to develop an apartment community — Espero Austin at Rutland — for people experiencing homelessness. The studio apartments at 1934 Rutland Drive, just east of Metric Boulevard, will provide access to supportive living programs with access to amenities for 171 people, authorities said. The project is expected to begin construction this summer and will be finished in the fall of 2022. According to data from the nonprofit Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO, the point-in-time count performed Jan. 25, 2020, identified 2,506 people experiencing homelessness on that day, which was an 11% increase from 2019. The property, which will be a low-income housing community, will offer a menu of on-site services such as employment and education programs, as well as programs for addressing mental and physical health and addiction, officials said. The facility could offer a response to Austin's homeless population especially after the city's proposition B passed with a 57 percent vote Saturday in the May 1 election. "The impact is that for 171 people their homelessness will be ended, and that is 171 fewer people on the streets of Austin," said Jo Kathryn Quinn, president and CEO for Caritas to the Austin American-Statesman. Quinn said the program will work along with ECHO to determine the first 171 people to qualify for the program. Program leaders will use an assessment tool through ECHO that will allocate 43 units for people who are the most vulnerable and have the greatest needs. The remainder of the units will be allotted using the same assessment system but not focusing on the most vulnerable. ""We want to have a diverse group of folks in terms of level of vulnerability so the property will not be too weighted on one side or the other and will be a property that is balanced and stable and a place anyone would want to live," Quinn said.