Austin's temporary homeless shelter to shut down in 2025

AUSTIN, Texas - The City of Austin's temporary emergency homeless shelter has set plans to close down in 2025. 

Officials say they are working on finding a replacement shelter.

"The Marshaling Yard is our temporary emergency shelter. It serves 300 clients a night," said David Gray, Homeless Strategy Officer for the City of Austin.

It launched as a shelter last year. It was converted from a warehouse usually used to store convention center equipment and supplies into a multi-bed homeless shelter.

It has been in use ever since, but Gray reveals there are plans to slow down operations as the emergency shelter is set to close its doors in 2025.

"Beginning in September, though, we're going to shift our intake to focus specifically on people who have some type of access to housing, whether it's a federal housing voucher or a relative who's willing to take them back home, and we'll begin the work of making sure that everybody who's at the Marshaling Yard is connecting to a housing resource," said Gray.

Then, come December, Gray says all intakes will stop at the Marshaling Yard, so they have three months to focus on figuring out housing for those already in the facility.

"Could mean that we're placing clients in bridge shelters, or the ARCH or 8th Street Shelter, which are city-owned facilities. It could also mean that we're working with our partners to see if they have availability and if our clients would be a good suit for those communities," he said.

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The shelter is set to close in March 2025. Right now, there are no replacement shelters lined up to take its place. This was reported by Gray to members of the City of Austin’s Public Health Committee.

"It's been very challenging finding an alternative location. We've been working with the city's real estate department, looking at every piece of city-owned property. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a viable location that we think works really well," said Gray.

Gray says they are committed to doing their best at finding a replacement.

"We're committed to leaving no stone unturned," he said.