Prop 17 Addresses Funds for Homeless Shelters
Proposition 17 would allocate $11 million in funding for projects including renovations at Austin’s homeless shelters. Photo by Erik Reyna/KUT NewsAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Era Sundar, KUT News
As part of our coverage leading up to the elections, KUT News is taking a closer look at each of the seven bond propositions Austin voters will see on their ballots in November. Proposition 17 addresses improvements for Health and Human Services.
The $11 million outlined in Proposition 17 would pay for several facilities-related projects, including renovations at Austin’s women’s and children’s shelters.
The Austin Resource Center for the Homeless offers showers, laundry facilities, counseling and shelter to Austin’s homeless population – men, women, and children. But overnight accommodations are only available to men.
That’s where Proposition 17 comes in. Jennifer Denton is with Front Steps, which runs the ARCH via a contract with the city.
“The bond proposition put forth will allow for construction or the expansion of an existing shelter over on the East Side,” Denton says. “That will provide a space not only for more women and children, but for the single women on the street that at the moment have nowhere to go.”
Bob Corona is with the Health and Human Services Department. He says the funding provided by the bond package would also go toward a neighborhood center, a clothes closet, an emergency food pantry and for senior nutrition – if the proposition passes in November.
“We feel very fortunate that we’ve gotten this far in the process,” Corona says. “And we’re very hopeful that we’ll be able to provide some of these services and activities much needed [by] clientele we have in some of these areas.”
Other projects that would benefit from Proposition 17 include infrastructure improvements at the Betty Dunkerley campus, and parking lot improvements at the Far South and Montopolis clinics.
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