Sarah Grunau/Houston Public Media
Pictured is the inside of a proposed resource center for homeless people in Houston, located at 419 Emancipation Ave.
The proposed $16 million purchase of a facility that would be used to temporarily shelter and provide services to homeless people in East Downtown was again delayed Wednesday.
Citing the need for more community engagement, Houston City Council members Mario Castillo and Julian Ramirez tagged the item, delaying it by one week.
Castillo is holding a community meeting with officials from Mayor John Whitmire’s administration at 6 p.m. Thursday at the TBH Center on South Jensen Drive. The facility earmarked for homeless resources, located at 419 Emancipation Ave., sits a few yards outside Castillo’s district.
The proposed facility is a key pillar of Whitmire’s push to functionally end street homelessness in Houston. It would hold up to 320 beds, according to the administration, functioning as a temporary shelter and service referral center. The presentation outlining the project was first uploaded to the city’s website in early October, when housing department director Mike Nichols presented the proposal to a city council committee.
He said the proposal “may not be the perfect location, but it is the perfect building.”
“I know there’s been criticism that this seemed to have moved very fast. I will say there’s more criticism in my life in government that we move too slow,” Nichols told Houston Public Media before the city council meeting on Wednesday. “This has been a project — not 419 (specifically) — but finding a place that we can have a low-barrier shelter, funding that shelter, and it takes a lot of time to do that. When you’re doing a real estate transaction … sometimes you have to move fast.”
Nichols said the overall initiative to address homelessness, expected to cost $168 million over the next three years, should accomplish its stated goal of functionally ending street homelessness by the end of next year — when everyone will be housed within 90 days of becoming homeless. Expected to serve more than 1,000 people annually on a budget of $10 million to $14 million, the homeless services center would be foundational as the city attempts to move the more than 1,200 people on the streets across Harris County into housing.
The multipronged initiative to address homelessness included the expansion of the city’s so-called civility ordinance in the downtown and East Downtown areas. Tickets for violations of sidewalk obstruction rules subsequently ticked up.
Around the proposed facility, which sits inside the East Downtown zone, people are already prohibited from lying down, sitting or placing personal possessions on sidewalks at all hours. The zone, however, ends a few yards to the east. The mayor’s director of public safety and homeland security, Larry Satterwhite, said the administration is exploring a further expansion.
Sarah Grunau/Houston Public Media
Houston Mayor John Whitmire, right, speaks during a tour of a proposed homeless resource facility at 419 Emancipation Ave. on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. At left is Larry Satterwhite, the mayor’s director of public safety and homeless security.
“I think there’s some momentum” for another expansion following conversations with community members, he said. “I think there’s room for that. You know, whatever we can do to help those in need and make sure the community is safe, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Previously pitched as a “homeless superhub,” Whitmire described it this week as “a living center for the homeless.” During a news conference and tour of the facility, he called out what he perceived as fearmongering.
“We respect the neighborhoods that get misinformation, and they’re getting plenty on this project — that’s why we’re here today,” Whitmire said.
The facility sits inside the district represented by council member Joaquin Martinez, who has expressed support for the proposal.
“We’re thinking about not just those that are in homes, but those that are unhoused as Houstonians,” Martinez said.
Officials with Harmony House, which operates the Navigation Center in Fifth Ward, and New Hope Housing, which provides permanent housing for formerly homeless people, spoke in favor of the proposed project during the city council’s public comment session on Tuesday. Some residents again spoke out against the proposal and the process, which included no community engagement efforts until a contentious meeting last week.
“I believe in compassionate solutions, but I also believe in responsible government and transparent decision-making,” resident Maddi Egan said. “Unfortunately, that has not been the case with this project.”
Residents have also questioned the cost. The city obtained two appraisals for the property, which came in at $10 million and $20 million. The proposed purchase price is $16 million, funded by debt paid off over 10 years.
The city council will consider the purchase next week.