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Residents against proposed homeless center
Sunrise Navigation Center, Austin’s largest homeless service provider, is in the final stages of relocating. FOX 7 Austin's Alec Nolan finds that residents in the proposed new location are not happy about it possibly moving to their neighborhood.
AUSTIN, Texas - Sunrise Navigation Center, Austin’s largest homeless service provider, is in the final stages of relocating.
But the new proposed location has been met with swift pushback from neighbors.
The backstory:
Travis Heights Elementary parent Morgan Moran De Sanchez is one of more than 500 signatures on a growing petition.
"This can’t happen here," De Sanchez said. "It should happen nowhere near a school."
The new location sits on the east side of I-35, walking distance from both Travis High School and Travis Heights Elementary.
"It’s a huge liability, and it’s a safety risk," De Sanchez said.
Austin City Councilor Ryan Alter says the new site meets the demands of providing basic services to as many as 300 people per day.
"This organization does great work. It needs a location that is big enough, a location that is a little more insulated from the neighborhood and the parks and the schools," Alter said. "I think that's what we found here."
The homeless center’s current location sits across from Joslin Elementary along Menchaca Road and Ben White Blvd (within Alter’s District 5).
Dig deeper:
Complaints prompted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to file a lawsuit last year documenting drug paraphernalia and public indecency near the elementary school.
"I am terrified," De Sanchez said. "Terrified for the safety of my children based on everything I’ve gleaned from firsthand accounts of the children and faculty and the community around the elementary school that has endured this for years."
De Sanchez believes the city is working "quickly and quietly" and pushing the problem from one backyard to the next.
"I don’t have a lot of faith in our system," De Sanchez said. "I feel like I can see it crumbling behind the scenes of this process."
The city says it’s working to ease neighborhood concerns, but the plan is to still move forward.
"They (homeless) absolutely deserve relief but not at the expense of the safety of my children," De Sanchez said. "The city needs to do better. They need to go back to the drawing board."
What's next:
The neighborhood is set to host a Q&A with city councilors on Thursday at Travis Heights Elementary.
The Source: Information from reporting by Alec Nolan and interviews with Morgan Moran De Sanchez and Austin City Council member Ryan Alter.