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Tag Archives: Austin City Council Public Health Committee

Nearly half of homeless residents exit HEAL program without housing

Despite the city’s work to move those living in homeless encampments into permanent housing, nearly half of all temporary shelter inhabitants exit the system and return to homelessness. One hundred and two people – 48 percent of those moved into shelter…

City explores harm reduction strategies to address the overdose crisis

The Texas Harm Reduction Alliance addressed the Public Health Committee last week about the overdose crisis in Travis County. More than 300 people in the area died of a preventable overdose last year, and more than 100 of those deaths…

Draft resolution targets opioid epidemic

City Council is set to consider a resolution this week that would declare opioid overdoses a public health crisis and increase support services needed to address the issue. Members of the Public Health Committee, all of whom are co-sponsoring the…

HAAM seeks $1M from city to provide health care for musicians

The Health Alliance for Austin Musicians is seeking $1 million from the city to help maintain health care coverage for 3,000 local musicians and cover an additional 1,000 who qualify for assistance from the nonprofit. During a presentation at last…

Staff seeks to build a better way to manage homeless encampments

City staffers are making a series of changes to the management of homeless encampments, with a centralized response and assessment system in the works that is expected to become operational later this summer. City Council’s Public Health Committee received a…

Public Health Committee hears update on $11 million child care investment

Staff members leading city and county efforts to expand child care services gave City Council’s Public Health Committee an update last Wednesday on the impacts of last year’s budget cycle.  Last summer, Council approved the investment of $11 million in…

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Tight rental market increasing wait times for city efforts to house the homeless

The city’s tight rental market is causing some delays in efforts to find housing for people who have recently been removed from homeless encampments as part of a program launched last year targeting those gathering areas around the city. At…

Health leaders developing plan to help those with substance use disorder

For the past two years, a network of local stakeholders has been thinking about how best to help community members who struggle with an addiction to drugs or alcohol. After two years of “planning to plan,” representatives from the Travis…

Austin looks into opening a trauma recovery center

Austin’s Public Health Committee is taking a look at establishing a trauma recovery center in the city to help victims of violent crime navigate their way to recovery. The resolution, which the committee passed last week, directs city staff to…

HEAL Initiative for the unhoused turns one year old

About a year has passed since Austin City Council adopted the HEAL Initiative, which is designed to connect houseless people living in encampments to housing or shelter and supportive services. The Housing-Focused Encampment Assistance Link, or HEAL as it is known, is…

APH launches three phases of solicitations to increase homeless services

Austin Public Health is seeking partners in social services to help provide for the city’s unhoused community. This winter and spring, APH’s Health Equity and Community Engagement Division is working with the Homeless Strategy Division to release three phases of…

Cold weather shelters kept hundreds warm in cold snap

On the rare occasions when the weather in Austin gets uncomfortably cold, Austin Public Health, the Homeless Strategy Division and the Parks and Recreation Department work together to activate the city’s cold weather shelters. In January, the shelters were put to…

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