<\/p>\n
City of Austin Homeless Strategy Officer David Gray gives a tour of the Eighth Street Shelter on Wednesday December 20, 2023.<\/p>\n
Jay Janner \/ American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Austin\u2019s homelessness office appears to have missed a second deadline to deliver a plan for creating a public dashboard to show how much money city-funded homeless service providers receive and whether their programs are producing results.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The dashboard is not yet required to be online. But under a City Council resolution<\/a> adopted last August, city staff were supposed to provide an initial report by December to the City Council\u2019s Public Health Committee that detailed available provider performance data and laid out a plan for implementing a \u201ccomplete public dashboard.\u201d The interface is expected to display outcome measures for service providers contracted to carry out the Homeless Strategy Office\u2019s plan, including figures like the number of people served.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Dashboard misses a second deadline<\/p>\n In a Dec. 11, 2025 memo, Homeless Strategy Officer David Gray informed the mayor and City Council that he was pushing the Dec. 3 deadline to June 30, saying his office didn\u2019t have \u201cthe in-house staff expertise or capacity to complete this dashboard alone\u201d and that it was working with the city budget office \u201con alternative ways to produce this information.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis extension will provide staff with sufficient time to exercise due diligence for the complex work the dashboard requires to present outcome performance data from service providers in a format that is clear, accessible, and easy to interpret,\u201d he wrote in December.<\/p>\n Now, it appears Gray\u2019s office has missed the June 30 deadline, too.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In a statement last week, Homeless Strategy Office spokesperson Chrisola Webb said the office would provide \u201can update on the dashboard\u2019s status\u201d by June 30, as required.<\/p>\n Council Member Marc Duchen, who serves as the vice chair of the council\u2019s Public Health Committee, told the American-Statesman on Wednesday that he hadn\u2019t received an update on the dashboard. Council Members Krista Laine and Zo Qadri said they hadn\u2019t either.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I understand the dashboard is behind schedule, and I want that fixed,\u201d Laine said in a statement that acknowledged that Gray\u2019s office has been busy doing challenging work to move people toward housing and services.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n City cites data cleanup and technology hurdles<\/p>\n In a statement to the American-Statesman, Gray said his office consulted with the city budget office and determined the data needed significant cleanup to \u201censure performance measures are accurate and aligned with current citywide and departmental strategic plans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe next step is to consult with Austin Technology Services to assess limitations of the current open-source platform and identify security requirements for any potential migration to City infrastructure,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n The city did not provide additional details about what data requires cleanup, what platform limitations staff have identified or what security issues must be resolved before the information can be published.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Another city spokesperson, Erik Johnson, said he could not provide answers to questions about what update Gray’s office had provided.<\/p>\n After this article was published, Johnson provided a statement saying the city was having technical difficulties with its data hub, preventing the mayor and council from seeing the status update. He added that staff are working on fixing the hub and that the mayor and council had been provided with the statement Gray sent to the Statesman.<\/p>\n The dashboard request emerged during last year\u2019s budget process, when council members were considering major new investments in homelessness response. The August resolution noted that the fiscal year 2025-26 budget process included discussions of tax-rate scenarios and budget amendments that proposed a large investment toward achieving the Homeless Strategy Office\u2019s plan. (Earlier this year, the Homeless Strategy Office released a new strategic plan<\/a> that found the office needed tighter performance tracking and contracting procedures.)<\/p>\n The resolution also said transparent reporting of service performance could build public support for homelessness investments and attract partners to the most effective interventions.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Rob Johnson pets his dog Aurora beneath the West St. Elmo Road bridge over railroad tracks in Austin, Friday, April 10, 2026. Johnson, who is homeless, stays in an encampment along the tracks where piles of trash have drawn complaints from nearby residents.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Budget pressures add to scrutiny<\/p>\n That public-trust issue has become more politically salient since November, when Austin voters rejected a tax-rate election that would have raised property taxes by more than 20% to fund a broad package of city investments, including homelessness-related programs.<\/p>\n The day after the election, City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced a review of social service contracts, including those with homeless service providers, saying the city would establish outcome-based performance metrics, avoid duplication and \u201cstrengthen accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Homelessness service contracts are now facing an estimated 10% cut in the upcoming budget as the city looks to balance a $26 million deficit \u2014 while other types of contracts are facing much deeper cuts.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n