SAN ANTONIO – The need for solutions to help those without shelter is far from a new problem, but the City of San Antonio’s Department of Human Services said it’s a top priority.
“Homelessness and specifically outreach and encampments came up is the number one area where the community was looking for change,” said Melody Woosley, director of the Department of Human Services. “We knew that it had to include more options for shelter and housing.”
The new budget for the city that took effect this week slotted an additional $200,000 in diversion funds. The Fiscal Year 2024 budget has nearly $700,000 included for homeless prevention, communication efforts and neighborhood outreach. Woosley said she’s searching for solutions, which doesn’t end with encampment cleanups.
“Encampment abatement is not a solution to homelessness because, unless you have a home to offer them or a place to go, then where do they go?” Woosley said. “We can’t just do more encampments without identifying where people will go and what’s available.”
The budget shows a total of $400,000 in diversion funds to help “300 individuals at-risk of homelessness avoid entering emergency shelters.” Woosley said these diversion funds can help with case management and utility and rental assistance in one-time funds to resolve issues with those in a housing crisis.
“The diversion is really a diversion from shelter,” Woosley said. “Maybe they need $1,500 to pay a deposit or some kind of relatively small amount to get them into that new apartment, rather than having to go spend the night or spend several nights at a homeless shelter.”
Maria Turvin, the executive operations director of Yanawana Herbolarios and advocate for those without shelter, said this could be promising for those in need.
“If they implement it well, it would be wonderful,” Turvin said. “If we want to stop wasting funds and we want to actually successfully get people housed, then we actually need to start with the people themselves.”
Woosley said her goal is also to improve communication and outreach, and the budget includes additional funding and two positions to do that. She said now that the budget is in place, creating a plan to spend this money is her focus.
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City pushes for hundreds more homeless camp cleanups as new budget takes effect