Local giving nonprofit I Live Here I Give Here (ILHIGH) has launched a new community initiative to raise funds for unhoused children and families in partnership with the City of Austin. Called Amplify Home, it included a “day of action” on October 21 and will continue on for year-round giving.

It takes a similar form to the broader initiative Amplify Austin, which organizes nonprofits and increases their visibility to local givers, especially on the annual Amplify Austin Day. The plan, says a representative for ILHIGH, is to make the Amplify Home action day a yearly occurrence.

The initiative aims to raise both funds and awareness of the growing number of unhoused Austin residents, according to a press release. Funds raised — in addition to volunteer help and educational events — will go toward housing support, move-in assistance, and emergency resources. An average family needs $1,200 to commit to stable housing.

Amplify Home’s goals in context
The release cites SchoolHouse Connection in pointing out that 2,500 students in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) are living in cars, motels, or temporarily with family; it also cites Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center, which says that 83 percent of unhoused kids have experienced violence, and they are at a significantly increased level of risk at being unhoused again as adults if they don’t receive help.

“Every child deserves a safe place to sleep,” Piper Stege Nelson, executive director of I Live Here I Give Here, said. “Amplify Home brings together nonprofits, schools, city leaders, and the Austin community to shine a light on family homelessness and take action to address it.”

In addition to AISD and City of Austin Mayor’s Office and Homeless Strategy Office, Amplify Home’s partners are nonprofits that already have a foothold in the community. They are the beneficiaries of Amplify Home. They include:

The SAFE AllianceLifeWorksCaritas of AustinSunrise Navigation CenterFoundation CommunitiesSt. Louise House

“This program, that will help us address youth homelessness, is one that we need to get behind, and we need to support, because the humanity of Austin, Texas is what we’re talking about,” says Mayor Kirk Watson. “It is a humanitarian crisis when we have that many children not being able to be children, because they are living unhoused.”

To make a donation through Amplify Home, donors can visit amplifyatx.org and click on the logo of the partner organization they would like to send funds to. If donors want to spread their contribution across all related charities, they can donate to the “Housing, Shelter & Homelessness Cause Category” within the Amplify Fund.

City resources for unhoused people on shaky ground
The announcement comes at a tense time for the topic, locally. On October 20, Austinites started voting early for a combination statewide election and special local election; the latter features the much-debated Proposition Q, which would raise personal property value taxes 5 cents for every $100 appraised.

The funds raised would support many local initiatives, the largest portion (but not the majority) being unhoused communities. The city estimates that if Proposition Q passes, the average Austin household would see a $25.22 monthly increase in taxes, or about $300 annually. Taxes will increase regardless of the vote’s outcome, but if it fails, the increase will cap at 3.5 percent year-over-year.

At the same time, the City of Austin and Governor Greg Abbott are in opposition on a new directive Abbott has handed down to increase sweeps of encampments around the city, forcibly removing people living in tents and throwing away their “debris” and belongings.

The city was already increasing its sweeps independently via the new Citywide Encampment Management Prioritization Initiative, which Watson believes is more strategic. A memorandum states that of 46 locally cleared encampments, “most people agreed to leave voluntarily, and staff connected several people to shelter and/or additional service,” leaving an ambiguous gap between people displaced and people sheltered. There were also two arrests.

Still, speaking to KVUE, Watson objected to the state’s approach and asserted that it is not a real solution. “If you send some group in just to clear some place, it just moves the problem,” he said. “It’s unclear to us who will be doing what and where they’ll be going next.”