Austin shelter highlights need for local funding
AUSTIN (KXAN) — According to The Other Ones Foundation (TOOF), its Esperanza community has been a massive success. However, with the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds they get through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs drying up, TOOF said it will have to get creative to fund its expansion plans.
“The ARPA years just made everything easy,” TOOF Director Chris Baker said. “Right now we have one budget and it’s how we operate the shelter. But when we break that budget down and say, ‘well we need a security team,’ there are grants that pay for that. We need case management? There are grants that just pay for that.”
From a camp to a complex
Baker still can’t fully wrap his head around how the Esperanza community has evolved from its origins as a tent city.
“I sometimes forget,” he said. “I have to sometimes ground myself and walk around and look at just what the place looks like and how the mood here is peaceful.”
As of February, the camp has 100 tiny homes for clients to stay in while they receive services ranging from substance abuse assistance to job training programs. In the 2024 fiscal year, TOOF said they helped move 296 people to stable housing while their homeless clients earned over $1 million in income combined.
And they want to help more people. TOOF is currently building another 100 tiny homes, with a lofty goal to eventually have 425 of those units available. In addition, they want to build an expanded job training facility and an apartment-style building with 100 units to help those who can’t stay alone.
“The more beds we can bring online the more people we can pull out of the experience of homelessness,” Baker said.
Navigating a new funding landscape
TOOF says federal funds currently make up 65.4% of their budget. However their ARPA funds expire Oct. 1, and they’re looking for 80% of new funding to come from either private donors or local government partnerships.
Baker estimates they have about 60-70% of funding sources for next year lined up, but held a meeting with legislative staffers to emphasize the importance of funding.
“We want to make sure people in government at all levels and of both parties are aware of what’s happening here,” Baker said. “At the end of the day, there’s a lot of different models that are having success across Texas and we need more funding for all of them.”
