$9.1M emergency homeless shelter at the Marshalling Yard expected to open by end of August

City Council on Thursday approved a proposal to operate a $9.1 million temporary emergency homeless shelter at the Marshalling Yard, a city-owned facility located near the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

The move comes as Austin sees 10 straight days of temperatures reaching 105 degrees or higher, creating urgency for Council members worried about the serious health risks unhoused people face during the record heat. The shelter is expected to open by the end of August.

But the high price tag for a temporary fix left some concerned about where those in the 300 emergency beds would end up after the shelter ceases operation. For Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, it brought back a reminder of the relocations required when a Salvation Army shelter closed in April. 

“The last thing that I want to have happen is us get to a point where we are investing in this resource for the community, and we end up like the Salvation Army, where all these people then have nowhere to go,” Kelly said. “It feels like a little bit of a ticking time bomb if we don’t do it very direct and responsibly.” 

Kelly also noted that the millions of dollars pumped into the facility will be from ARPA funds, which are those provided from a federal stimulus bill aimed at providing states and local governments assistance with efforts on public health and economic recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic. Since allocating the funds is a major decision, Kelly said, “I want it to be deliberate – the outcomes that we get.”

After those comments, Council members dug more into the oversight practices and asked for details about the facility’s setup and operations. Once work on it starts, Council was told, the shelter can be operational in 72 hours and will have a case management staff to assist with rehousing efforts. Steps for demobilizing the facility would start at least 60 days before closing, and people would start to be transferred to permanent housing or other shelters.  

The shelter would be run by a vendor known as Family Endeavors throughout the yearlong contract. The nonprofit has provided shelter operations in other Texas cities, with facilities ranging in size from 105 to 3,000 bed shelters, according to a city memo.

Before a vote, Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison also weighed in, noting that she experienced homelessness in her youth and as an adult. She voted in favor of an amendment proposed by Council Member Ryan Alter that designates any unused funds from the project to go toward permanent supportive housing. 

Approval on the proposal came after multiple people voiced opposition to it during a public comment period, calling it a bandage solution and pushing for more comprehensive actions to assist unhoused Austinites. 

Ahead of the meeting, Austin Mutual Aid put out a statement on Wednesday that read in part, “How do we feel about a displacement project to move 300 unhoused neighbors to a warehouse in the middle of nowhere for a year? This project directly removes funds from permanent housing.”

This story has been changed since publication to correct an assertion that Council Member Zo Qadri voted against an amendment that would direct funds to permanent supportive housing.

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