HEART Austin homeless outreach pilot program launching soon
AUSTIN, Texas - A new homeless outreach program is looking to pilot a new approach to address the needs of homeless individuals in downtown Austin.
The Downtown Austin Alliance, in partnership with Urban Alchemy, is launching the Homelessness Engagement Assistance Response Team or HEART Austin.
The goal of HEART Austin is to "actively engage with and address the needs of people living unsheltered," says the DAA. The program will run from Feb. 1 through July 31 and will operate during the hours of 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The pilot program will focus on the area between Congress Avenue and Brazos Street and 4th Street and 9th Street, as well as the 5th Street to 7th Street blocks from Congress Avenue, to the I-35 W frontage road and in the 200-300 block of 4th Street.
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Team members will work alongside DAA Ambassadors and the Austin Police Department to address non-emergency issues, including deescalating behavioral issues and interrupting disturbances, providing interventions to address and/or prevent mental health episodes, and preventing crimes.
The DAA says these engagements will allow for relationship building, assessing individual needs, connecting with and transporting to social and housing services, and reuniting people with families and personal support networks.
The pilot program, which will employ a supervisor, practitioner and a communications/data quality coordinator, will gauge the program’s success based on:
- Changes in quarterly PID unsheltered homeless counts
- Number of engagements and de-escalation interventions
- Placements/enrollments into shelter, services, housing, medical and/or mental health treatment
- Diversions from Austin Police Department resources
- Numbers of responses to service requests and self-initiated contacts, as well as response times
The HEART Austin program will help amplify current DAA and APD efforts, taking pressure off of decreasing police resources and allowing APD to focus their efforts and resources elsewhere, says DAA.