HOST for the win
By Kori Wooten
Craig Staley has watched her for over a year now — day in and day out — on Rainey Street, constantly reaching out to the homeless woman even though it’s not his job.
Staley, co-owner of the Royal Blue Grocery stories, said he even helped her set up a date and time to be taken to Community First, which houses the chronically homeless. “They went to pick her up when she said, ‘Aw, ya know, I just want to stay to myself,’” Staley recalled.
When Staley asked her where she slept, she wouldn’t tell him told him. He remembers her telling him, “Don’t worry about me, I have a safe place to go.” He said there are some people he knows who want to stay homeless.
“I just think for whatever reason, there’s no other choice in her mind,” he said.
The plight of homeless men and women is what the Homeless Outreach Street Team is about — reaching the unreachable, offering aid to those who need it, even if they won’t accept it.
Although the woman Staley sees won’t accept any help, the HOST staffers recently celebrated a win. Another vulnerable woman, whom they’d been reaching out to for quite a while, finally received the help she needed.
“Maybe it takes us 100 times of asking them,” Austin Police Officer Randy Hunt said. “Maybe giving them a bottle of water one day and a sandwich the next. But we build a really good rapport with them and are able to get many to come in and many to accept services.”
The Homeless Outreach Street Team was launched on June 1, 2016. After a three-month trial period, the City of Austin approved the continuation of the team as a pilot program. If it continues to be successful in terms of numbers, the program will receive its own funding. Currently, the funding is limited and comes from the budget of each department that is represented on the team.
“Because it’s a pilot program, we don’t have any money or resources of our own,” said Austin Police Officer Shelly Borton. The city has to make it a permanent program for it to receive funding. The new budget year will be planned in October, and Borton says she’s hopeful that the city will approve it.
The team is composed of the Austin Police Department, Austin Integral Care, Austin-Travis County EMS, the Downtown Austin Community Court, and the Downtown Austin Alliance. Through this partnership, the program’s goals continue to revolve around meeting the needs of the homeless.
“We all bring our unique skills and expertise to the team to provide the best possible care to the homeless community downtown,” said Karen Dorrier, a mental health specialist at Austin Integral Care.
The History
In early 2016, the idea of the outreach team began as a seed in the minds of a group of police officers, who visited Houston and saw the impacts their Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) was making. Borton was one of those who saw the potential this program would have in Austin, and was a “perfect fit” for the outreach team, Hunt said of his partner.
Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo said downtown Austin has an increasing public safety and public health issue due to the population increase and the changes in the city.
“We have a large population of individuals experiencing homelessness who are in the downtown area, without even public restrooms,” she said. Studies show the population of the homeless community is at 2,000 people in Austin.
“Just saying it’s OK for people to sleep out on the street is not an answer,” said Staley, the owner of Royal Blue Grocery stores, in downtown Austin. “I think that’s where we’ve really fallen down.” He said he thinks it’s a much bigger problem than something we can simply solve, but taking steps as a community to provide those services is crucial.
They are learning every day of what is needed on the streets,” said Dewitt Peart, the President and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance. “The most effective piece of it is taking medicine and services to them before it becomes a medical call or emergency call.”
While many programs including Ending Community Homelessness Coalition and Front Steps have been pursuing the goal of ending homelessness, the outreach team’s approach is different.
The team meets them where they are, Hunt said, adding that the people they serve are on the verge of going to jail, the hospital, or mental health centers.
Peart said being more mobile has been a new approach and “it’s working.”
“We don’t necessarily take an enforcement role,” Borton said. “We try to problem solve.”
If we see someone drinking beer where they aren’t supposed to, we’ll address the issue that they’re breaking the law but instead of writing a ticket or taking them to jail, we try to see if it’s a deeper issue and then seek treatment if they are willing, she said.
“At the beginning of any relationship, it is about engagement and trust,” Dorrier said, adding that it’s the same with homeless individuals. By creating a plan that is personal, “we support our clients in a way that best fits their needs” and supports their health.
Hunt feels the team is successful when that they get to help those who can’t help themselves.
“We recognize who they are. We seek those people out, not as traditional police, but in a very human, helpful manner,” Hunt said, adding that some people don’t go to the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH), the Salvation Army or any other homeless provider because they may be too mentally ill or too afraid of that environment.
“We have linked people to mental health care, medical care, substance use services, housing services and have provided for basic needs such as clothing, food and bus passes,” Dorrier said.
Integral Care served approximately 2,000 individuals who were homeless last year, 120 of whom were directed to them by the outreach team. Hunt and Borton see approximately four people per day, but often have regulars whom they see as well. HOST has had over 1,400 contacts with individuals experiencing homelessness and served nearly 500 people.
“You can look at the numbers all day and determine if we’re effective,” Borton said. “But you have to hear our stories for it to make sense.”
