Council approves buying $4.3M property for new homeless navigation center

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin City Council voted 8-3 to buy a $4.3 million property on I-35 near Oltorf for a controversial new homeless navigation center. 

Advocates for the site say it's needed to help those who need services, but opponents are worried about safety in their community. Many say they're not against homeless navigation centers, but they want more time to look at the impacts. 

What they're saying:

About 60 people spoke during public comment.

"This proposed site is just 0.3 miles from a high school, and 0.8 miles from an elementary school, which will only worsen those problems in the area that are already strained with safety concerns and limited enforcement," one public commenter said. 

"Our homeless neighbors are not dangerous murderers or predators, they are our friends, neighbors, and community members deserving of basic needs met and homes," another public commenter said. 

Council Member Marc Duchen brought a motion to postpone the vote, but that failed. Most of the council members voted in favor. 

"We are going to take the lessons we have learned over the past many years and get this right," Council Member Ryan Alter said. 

The "no" votes were Council Members Duchen, Zo Qadri, and Jose Velasquez. 

"I'm voting no, because I personally have not had enough time with this item," Velasquez said. 

"I'm voting no today not because I oppose creating a navigation center, but because I believe we need stronger community engagement," Qadri said. 

"If I had to buy a four-and-a half million dollar home in two weeks, I'd try and find out some of the things I'm confused about and right now, and I'm not in that place," Duchen said.

Homeless Strategy Officer David Gray says he hears the community's concerns, but the center is needed. 

"If we don't bring these services, what we're going see is more people in that community on the streets, more children, more families on the streets, and that's not something that any Austinite wants," he said. 

Concerned neighbors

The other side:

But not everyone is on board.

Some neighbors worry the site will add to crime and say it’s too close to Travis High School and Travis Heights Elementary.

"I don't think we're surprised by the decision that the council has made. We are bearing the burden of supporting people who are the most vulnerable and often," said Ian Dille with the Greenbriar East Oltorf Association.

The Greenbriar East Oltorf Neighborhood Association says it formed in response to growing safety concerns in the area.

"It's a vibrant and diverse community. Over the last three to four years, we have more or less just been in a vortex of drug use, drug dealing and an overall decline in the neighborhood, which has led to a lot of really, really scary violent crime within a mile of our house," said Dille.

The group worries a center like this could make those problems worse.

"Unfortunately, people who are experiencing homelessness disproportionately suffer from addiction, and we already have a number of people who were addicted to drugs living in our neighborhood. We have drug dealers uh posted up on our corner's um starting pretty much as the sun sets," said Dille.

What's next:

The city says next steps include forming a center advisory body made up of local residents, business owners, and others.

Gray says now that the city officially owns the property, they can get into the details of how they'll design the space, and the specific scope of services it will provide on-site.

"That body will work directly with our office on looking at the property, looking at the program of services, and bringing forth a final recommendation to council around the scope of services and also a lease agreement with an operator for the site," said Gray. 

Gray says the city hopes to find an operator with a goal of having one selected by the end of the year.

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