HUD awards $14M to Austin-area homeless services groups

Organizations in Austin and Travis County will receive nearly $14 million in federal funding to support housing and services for individuals experiencing homelessness, marking the largest award to date from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program. The funding represents a $2 million increase from last year and will support 16 projects across eight local organizations. Recipients of the grants include Caritas of Austin, the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, the Housing Authority of the City of Austin, the Housing Authority of Travis County, Integral Care, LifeWorks, the SAFE Alliance and Sunrise Community Church. The funding will support three new permanent supportive housing projects for youth and young adults, survivors of domestic violence and people with serious mental illness. These projects build on ongoing housing developments such as Espero Rutland, Pecan Gardens, Seabrook Square II and Cairn Point Cameron, which either opened or broke ground in 2024. Last week, City Council adopted a new system model outlined in ECHO’s 2024 State of the Homelessness Response System report. The model identifies the need for 4,175 new permanent supportive housing units, 550 additional shelter beds and 2,355 rapid rehousing units to address homelessness over the next decade.