Volunteers at Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center gave bandanas soaked in ice cold water to people experiencing homelessness during the summer heat.

Last week’s freeze was the first major test of the changes Austin has made to its cold weather and emergency shelter precautions since the winter storm in February 2021, and it showed that despite improvements in the city’s coordination and planning, weaknesses persist.

Dozens of staff from the City of Austin and partner agencies helped shelter hundreds of vulnerable people from the cold weather at up to five overnight Cold Weather Shelters between Thursday evening and Tuesday morning.

John Marcus Gordy, who has been homeless since he was evicted in July, warms up by a fire at the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center on Friday December 23, 2022.

Standing in a gravel lot, with the sun pinned high in the October sky, Steve sees his former self as he makes his daily rounds through a homeless encampment filled with people grappling with substance use disorder. When he is approached by a man in the camp who admits his recent struggles with substances, Steve offers advice in the form of an analogy.

AUSTIN, Texas - With temperatures quickly dropping Thursday, community members have been doing what they can to help out the homeless community to stay warm.

The city of Austin announced Wednesday it was opening up to three cold weather shelters Thursday for anyone needing a warm place to sleep as an Arctic cold front makes its way south to Central Texas, plunging overnight temperatures into the teens and creating dangerous outdoor conditions for people experiencing homelessness.

Like any good Christmas party, Sunrise Homeless Prevention Center’s celebration had holiday music, food, and Santa himself present. The cold though would soon be an unwanted guest once the sun went down and the unhoused in attendance would search for somewhere to get out of the cold.

Earlier in the year, the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office reported that fentanyl-related overdoses had increased by 237% since 2020, making overdose the leading cause of accidental death in the county. In May, the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance organized a rousing town hall that brought first responders, drug users, homeless outreach organizations, and public officials together and highlighted the urgency of expanding the city's and county's response to the opioid crisis. The declaration of a public health emergency unlocked $350,000 in new funding and staffing for local harm reduction organizations and the county, and a plan to increase availability of methadone treatment for opioid addiction through Integral Care.

On Nov. 16, members from several community groups fighting homelessness stood outside the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance center to celebrate securing nearly 7,000 free 31-day bus passes for unhoused Austinites.

Hotline devoted to Austin's homeless population.

The Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center will officially launch a hotline on Tuesday to connect people experiencing homelessness with housing assessments and other resources.

AUSTIN, Texas — People in Austin can now access life-saving medication Narcan 24/7 at a vending machine outside the south Austin church and day center. The vending machine went up in August at Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center thanks to a partnership with the N.I.C.E Project.

Austin officials say a new strategy for clearing and removing homeless encampments will bring order and consistency to how departments prioritize and conduct such sweeps. The strategy was developed starting last November in response to voters passing Proposition B to put a citywide camping ban back on the books.