Mayor to announce Housing Our Heroes campaign

It’s a tall order, but Mayor Steve Adler will be announcing a plan to end veteran homelessness in Austin by Veterans Day this year. Adler, along with Sen. Kirk Watson and representatives from the Austin Board of Realtors, the Austin Apartment Association and the Real Estate Council of Austin, among others, will be hosting a press conference at 11 a.m. today at at 2903 Burning Oak Drive, the home of a recently housed veteran. “Housing Our Heroes” is Austin’s effort to answer the national Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness and features a coalition of coordinated community partners. The coalition includes representatives from government, nonprofit, for-profit and real estate sectors working together to house over 200 veterans in the next 12 weeks. Landlords participating in the program will receive HUD vouchers through the Veterans Administration. On Oct. 15, 2014, then-Mayor Lee Leffingwell and his colleagues announced that by pooling resources with various local organizations, the city would aim to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015. On May 1, 2015, Adler reaffirmed the commitment at the annual meeting of the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition. Today’s press conference will describe efforts by the city, the real estate community, the Austin Community Foundation, Caritas, Front Steps, the Salvation Army, Watson’s office and federal agencies to ensure that Austin meets that goal and all local veterans have homes by Veterans Day.