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<\/p>\nThe organization said the priorities are intended to guide its advocacy, use of resources and work with government leaders as downtown continues to grow.<\/p>\n
AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) is outlining five policy priorities for the year ahead, focusing on homelessness, mental health and public safety in downtown Austin.<\/p>\n
The organization said the priorities are intended to guide its advocacy, use of resources and work with government leaders as the downtown area continues to grow.<\/p>\n
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DAA President and CEO Davon Barbour said the organization has worked with local governments and service providers in recent years, but believes more needs to be done to address homelessness and behavioral health concerns downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve still seen that we’ve been unable to really move the needle to address homelessness and behavioral health concerns in downtown,\u201d Barbour said.<\/p>\n
The DAA said its most recent Downtown User Survey found that 69% of respondents expressed concerns about public safety related to homelessness and behavioral health downtown, which helped craft their priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nWhat are the DAA’s five priorities? <\/p>\n
More shelter, housing and diversion programs, including investment in emergency shelter capacity and permanent supportive housing.More psychiatric crisis and step-down care, including additional crisis beds and longer-term behavioral health services.Changes to emergency psychiatric holds, allowing psychiatrists, physicians and their delegates to place someone on an emergency psychiatric hold rather than limiting that authority to law enforcement.More downtown police staffing, with the DAA calling for the restoration of Austin Police Department Downtown Area Command to reach at least 90% of its approved staffing levels.Stronger enforcement of panhandling and sit\/lie ordinances. <\/p>\n
The DAA said addressing homelessness and behavioral health will require coordination among government agencies, nonprofits, service providers and other community partners.<\/p>\n
One effort already underway is the No Wrong Door Initiative, a partnership involving 17 organizations including the DAA that focuses on connecting people to services and reducing repeat homelessness, emergency room visits and arrests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat coalition is what will continue to move the needle on this front,\u201d Barbour said.<\/p>\n
Austin City Council Member Zo Qadri, who represents downtown, said the city has made progress on safety and homelessness but that more work remains.<\/p>\n
Qadri sent KVUE the following statement:<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout my time on Council, my focus for downtown has been improving safety, vibrancy, and livability for all of our community. I am proud of the work we have done over several budget cycles to make targeted investments to strengthen downtown public safety, including the Downtown Command Center and EMS-APD Counter Assault Strike Team, with a focus on faster response times, stronger coordination, and ensuring resources are in place before emergencies occur. I also am proud of our partnership with DAA to expand the Homelessness Engagement Assistance Response Team (HEART) to a full year in 2025, and the work done by the Downtown Homelessness Task Force.<\/p>\n
While we have made strides in a safer, more vibrant downtown, there is still more work to be done. We still face a shortage of housing for our lowest income households, with federal housing funding cuts exacerbating the crisis. Some of our most vulnerable unhoused neighbors are cycling through a fragmented emergency response system, increasing the likelihood they enter the criminal justice system rather than appropriate clinical care. Some only need housing they can afford, while others need more specialized behavioral health care.<\/p>\n
I will continue to champion investments in shelter and permanent supportive housing. I’m also proud of the work being done under the No Wrong Door Initiative, a coordinated crisis response program to reduce the cycle of arrests, ER visits, and homelessness focused on people with the most complex social and behavioral health needs.<\/p>\n
But the City cannot do it alone. Partnerships with state, federal, and local private, public, and nonprofit entities will be essential to improving outcomes, delivering compassionate care to our unhoused neighbors, and seeing healthier and safer public spaces.<\/p>\n
I look forward to working closely with our City team, downtown partners, outreach workers, and community advocates to continue to strengthen a downtown that thrives for everyone, and take meaningful steps to help our unhoused neighbors find stability and opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The organization said the priorities are intended to guide its advocacy, use of resources and work with government…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-434599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}