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TxDOT purchases land for homeless emergency shelter expansion

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Published  February 8, 2024 5:41pm CST
Homeless Crisis
FOX 7 Austin

TxDOT expands east Austin homeless camp

The Esperanza homeless community sits on a property owned by the state, and TxDOT is purchasing land next door for more space.

AUSTIN, Texas - A recent land purchase will allow the Esperanza Community to potentially double its capacity. 

TxDOT announced the acquisition of roughly seven acres of land that will allow the emergency shelter to expand. The goal is to provide more space for homeless residents who may be displaced by upcoming construction on I-35.

"There's a variety of things that we need to have a robust homelessness response system," said Max Moscoe, director of communications for The Other Ones Foundation. "We need access to deeply affordable housing, which will take a lot of time and investment. And in the interim, we need more access to dignified, low-barrier shelter."

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Back in 2019, the governor tasked TxDOT and other state departments to establish a state-sanctioned camp for the homeless along I-35 and similar corridors.

That property is now the Esperanza Community, a low-barrier, emergency shelter run by The Other Ones Foundation with the goal of transitioning people out of homelessness.

"In the last four years, TxDOT’s Austin District created the blueprint for how cities across Texas, and the country, can help address homelessness," said Governor Abbott. "This additional capacity for temporary housing for those at risk of experiencing homelessness will allow more Texans to get the services they need at the Esperanza Community. This will help ensure TxDOT can continue the planned reconstruction of I-35 to further boost the Texas economy." 

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Construction on the section of I-35 running through downtown will soon begin as part of the I-35 Capital Express Central project. TxDOT will be removing and reconstructing overpasses and bridges.

"As a part of that, we knew that we might be possibly displacing the unhoused," said Mike Arellano, Austin District Deputy District Engineer for TxDOT. "And so we took proactive steps, started an initiative to try to address this several years ago, and the impetus of that effort is the Esperanza Community."

Central I-35 construction is expected to begin in mid 2024.

A timeline for the development of the new property adjacent to the Esperanza Community is unclear. 

"There's a lot of studying and a lot of feasibility we have to do before we start putting pencils to the paper on design," said Arellano.