Austin City Council possibly considering converting another hotel into COVID-19 shelter
When they meet Thursday, Austin City Council may add another hotel to its roster of five former hotels that are now serving as protective lodging for people recovering from COVID-19.
The agenda item in question will authorize the city to lease the Fairfield Inn & Suites in northwest Austin, off Highway 183 near Anderson Mill Road for "emergency housing, isolation, and support services related to COVID-19." If passed, the city will pay $910,560 for a 60-day lease, with the option to extend for up to three additional 30-day periods.
Currently Austin has five former hotels being used in this way - in what's called protective lodging. They can be found in the following five locations:
- 4200 S IH-35 (near Ben White Blvd) [District 3]: capacity for 110 guests
- 8010 N IH-35 (near US Hwy 183) [District 4]: capacity for 60 guests
- 3105 N IH-35 (near 31st Street) [District 9]: capacity for 55 guests
- 7400 N IH-35 (near US Hwy 183) [District 4]: capacity for 65 guests
- 2711 S IH-35 (near Oltorf) [District 3]: capacity for 50 guests
However, the city is discussing closing down two of these locations in December, and potentially more in early 2021.
If council members vote on the lease for the Fairfield Inn & Suites Thursday, it would come at a time when local health leaders are warning the public of the possibility of another surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
On Wednesday, Texas became the first state to top one million COVID-19 cases. A day earlier, the state saw its biggest total of daily new cases with 10,865 infections.
Austin has not seen any similar jump, with the 7-day moving average of daily new cases sitting at 158.
At Tuesday's work session, homeless services leaders pointed to this strategy as a reason why Austin had not seen a spike in COVID-19 cases within its homeless population.
"We have really managed to keep our numbers down in our community for this population and for the staff in the different agencies that work with this population in congregate settings, which is a pretty big challenge. Yes, we have a pretty low rate, and we really credit the protective lodging that's helping with that," said Interim Homeless Services Officer Vella Karman on Tuesday.
These sites, as well as the Fairfield Inn & Suites if passed Thursday, are not just limited to people experiencing homelessness. Anyone in a living situation where they cannot isolate from others while recovering from COVID-19 can utilize these hotels.
Ending Community Homelessness Coalition - or ECHO - Executive Director Matthew Mollica said these set-ups have been so important for people experiencing homelessness to fight off the virus.
"Certainly the non-congregate emergency shelter that has been created through the COVID response for the city has been very effective in reducing the exposure to high-risk people experiencing homelessness to COVID-19, and I think the quick response that was taken and the thoroughness to stand up the operations with supportive services being provided on site has really led to saving a lot of folks from potential exposure to COVID. I think there's obviously high risk in the community, but Austin's response overall - as compared to other communities - has been really positive, one that I think a lot of people are really proud of," Mollica said.
This has also eased the burden on homeless shelters in the city.
Because of health guidelines, shelters have had to limit capacity to about half what it can be.
"The lack of shelter space right now has impacted our unsheltered community, and I think you're seeing more people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the Downtown area because there's fewer shelter beds available to them in that area now. The protective lodging that's been leased has gone a long way in keeping some capacity available to those experiencing homelessness to shelter and get access to the hygiene and social distancing practices we all take for granted. It's been a big benefit in that way for those folks, and it's really helped us connect those folks with the benefits, employment, working closely with those folks to get them connected to those mainstream resources so when they exit that emergency situation, they go into housing. That's really important," Mollica said.
However, Mollica sees these shelters as only a short-term solution during an emergency situation. Moving forward, he said the city needs to continue with purchasing hotels and motels to convert them to bridge housing and, ultimately, permanent supportive housing.
So far, Austin has bought two former motels for this purpose.
"This hotel/motel strategy is crucially important to make more housing stock in our community with people with extremely low incomes and people experiencing homelessness. My hope is the city is pursuing this. I've heard it in council and through city staff that they're pursuing options to purchase additional hotels. I know it's a priority for folks in the city and at the city staff level. I feel really confident that in the coming months we'll have more units online and ready to move people into permanent housing options," Mollica said. "As we're discussing homelessness and healthcare - this pandemic is highlighting the need for those to be basic human rights and be afforded to everybody in the community. We're in the middle of a global pandemic, if you don't have access to healthcare - quality affordable healthcare and quality affordable housing - you're more at risk in the community to contracting COVID-19. It can't be a situation where we can't provide those resources as basic human needs, and it's a public health emergency."
This goes hand-in-hand with budget priorities. The City of Austin allocated $60.9 million for homeless services, as well as an amendment providing an additional $6.5 million for permanent supportive housing.
