Dozens of additional units will be completed by March 2025.
AUSTIN, Texas — As Austin continues to face an affordability crisis, nonprofit The Others One Foundation is creating more shelter space to house the homeless.
The emergency shelter known as “the Esperanza Community” in southeast Austin is full, so crews are adding more housing on-site.
The site currently has 100 units in Phase I where people are living, but come March of 2025 there will be an additional 100 units. Friday was a groundbreaking for Phase II.
“This is a place people come and experience transformation,” said founder and executive director Chris Baker.
This comes at a critical time as according to the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO, on any given night, more than 6,300 people are unhoused in Austin. So the goal is to get more people off the streets.
The total cost for Phase II is around $3 million. Funding will come from the city of Austin, Travis County and through private groups.
“[The] stability that someone is able to achieve when they have a door that locks behind them, and place they can sleep and not super hot in the summer, or super cold in the winter,” Baker said.
All 100 units of Phase II will be completed in March 2025.