Austin officials are launching a coordinated effort to connect people experiencing homelessness and repeated interactions with hospitals and the criminal justice system with treatment and support.
Ricardo B Brazziell American Sta/Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-StSeventeen agencies in Austin have launched the No Wrong Door initiative to coordinate care for people who frequently cycle through jails, hospitals and homelessness services.Just 2% of people arrested by Austin police from 2021 to 2025 accounted for 17% of all arrests, with 85% of these frequent users experiencing homelessness and 55% having behavioral health issues.The repeated use of public systems by at least 950 high-need individuals in Travis County costs an estimated $137 million annually.
Officials from more than a dozen local government agencies and nonprofit organizations are launching an effort to break a costly cycle of homelessness, psychiatric crises, emergency room visits and repeated arrests among some of Austin’s most vulnerable residents.
The initiative, called No Wrong Door, brings together 17 city, county, health care and nonprofit organizations to identify people who repeatedly cycle through jails, hospitals and homelessness services and develop individualized plans to connect them with treatment and support.
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Data included in a city report released Aug. 4 show a relatively small population accounts for an outsized share of arrests and other costly interactions with public systems. From 2021 through 2025, 2% of people arrested by Austin police accounted for 17% of all arrests. Among the frequent users of those systems, 85% had experienced homelessness and 55% had behavioral health issues, an umbrella term that includes severe mental illness and other issues like substance abuse disorder.
The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute estimates at least 950 people in Travis County are “high utilizers” of the criminal justice, homelessness and health care systems. Their repeated interactions with those systems cost an estimated $144,000 per person, or $137 million annually.
Austin’s new coordinated-care initiative focuses on residents who repeatedly experience homelessness and encounter jails and hospitals. An estimated 950 people in Travis County frequently use those systems.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Andy Farias, Austin’s No Wrong Door program manager, said the initiative is initially prioritizing 100 of the people who use those systems most frequently. Austin police officers are working directly with some of those residents to identify their needs and connect them with services.
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“It’s a trifecta that plagues people and causes them to stay in a system that is not designed to meet their needs,” Farias said, referring to mental health problems compounded by unsheltered homelessness and substance-use disorders. “They’re going to go through this vicious cycle perpetually if we don’t make a more concerted intervention.”
No Wrong Door is intended to replace some of that fragmentation with coordinated case management. Participating agencies will meet every two weeks to discuss individual clients’ needs, while executive leaders meet monthly to address broader barriers. Farias said the city is using existing staffing and other resources to coordinate the program, making its costs negligible.
But officials say coordination alone cannot solve one of the region’s biggest problems: a shortage of places equipped to care for people with severe mental illness and substance-use disorders.
Austin and Travis County have committed to pursuing a mental health crisis center, while city officials are seeking state support for additional inpatient treatment and intermediate “step-down” care.
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Mayor Kirk Watson made the case for state action in a July letter to the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is seeking state support for additional mental health treatment and intermediate care as the city works to reduce repeated homelessness, hospital visits and arrests.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
“In Austin and across Texas, there’s often nowhere for them to go,” Watson wrote. “The default disposition for these individuals is either jail or a hospital emergency department.”
Watson described those options as expensive and often inappropriate for patients.
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Farias said Austin also lacks enough places for people to go between acute psychiatric treatment and independent living. He described that “step-down” care as a missing middle that could include skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation or transitional care.
Without those options, providers can stabilize someone in crisis but have nowhere appropriate to send them next.
“We need more options,” Farias said, “because the street remains the most expensive and inhumane option for people to receive care.”
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