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 – Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center, the highest-volume provider of homeless services in Travis County, is officially launching Austin’s first homelessness hotline call center which allows people experiencing homelessness to connect to integral services and coordinated housing assessments directly by phone, which are often difficult to find offered in person.

"We have grown from a helpful day center into the highest volume provider of homeless services in Austin-Travis County where the Sunrise Hub team is just one of 7 distinct teams following our now-famous integrated model of care that brings whole-person care to the whole person trauma of homelessness." Mark Hilbelink, Director

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.

A bright white vending machine was recently affixed to the east brick wall of the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center. It’s doing exactly what Em Gray had hoped — just a whole lot faster than she expected

Organizaciones comunitarias han unido fuerzas para instalar esta máquina del medicamento Narcan, usado para tratar sobredosis de drogas. Esta iniciativa ha recibido algunas críticas.

A vending machine full of life-saving medication is now installed on the side of Sunrise Community Church in South Austin.

The start of Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s monthly board of directors meeting yesterday had a different feel than usual. Typically, a few speakers may approach the podium to speak in support of or against an item on the agenda. Yesterday, however, advocates and members of Austin’s unhoused community packed the Rosa Parks Boardroom to implore Capital Metro to make some transportation services free for people experiencing homelessness.

AUSTIN, Texas (NewsNation) — As more states work to reduce the damage being done by the opioid epidemic, Austin’s first Narcan vending machine now sits outside of a church and homeless day center.

Now the county’s first Narcan vending machine sits outside the church and Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center...The N.I.C.E. Project (Narcan in Case of Emergency) partnered with Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center to provide 24/7 access to life-saving medication. Read More or Watch Here

Austin, Texas – The N.I.C.E. Project (Narcan in Case of Emergency) opens their first barrier-free Narcan distribution site at the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center to provide 24/7 access to the overdose-reversal medication Narcan.

Austin, Texas — A report from the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office found drug overdoses are the No. 1 cause of accidental death in our community.

To shed some light on this issue, three Austin mothers organized a walk on Sunday to educate the public and raise awareness of the rising number of fentanyl overdose deaths.

It’s been triple-digit temperatures for weeks now around much of Texas. Homeless Texans are among the state's most vulnerable residents.

On Monday, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors unanimously approved the implementation of a new system called Equifare that caps the amount riders pay for fares and provides reduced fares for people with lower incomes. But before the board voted, some Austinites voiced their concerns saying the reduced fares do not go far enough to aid Austin’s unhoused.

After years of organizing by Texas Harm Reduction Alli­ance, including an emotional town hall at the beginning of May, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously declared the opioid overdose epidemic a public health crisis on May 24.

AUSTIN, Texas — Megan Boyd has her boots to the ground at the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center. She’s part of a mobile outreach program that travels to homeless encampments across the city to conduct coordinated assessments. As Boyd and her team arrived at a parking lot on Menchaca Road, the outreach team stumbled upon dozens of unhoused residents whose encampment was just cleaned out.