AUSTIN (KXAN) — The City of Austin is looking into how much it would cost to convert the former downtown Health South facility into a temporary homeless shelter.

In a city memorandum sent on Tuesday, staff members provided their “best estimates on costs for such a conversion and an updated timeline” for the project.

That estimate? Between $2.5-6.6 million.

Staff members also estimated it will take 24-30 months to convert the building for residential use.

The Health South facility is located at Red River Street and East 12th Street, behind the old Brackenridge Hospital and across from the Sobering Center.

“It’s important that we provide a solution that is safe and comfortable and a good living enviroment as well,” said Economic Development Director Veronica Briseño, adding that every department is working diligently towards solutions.

Cost estimates to convert the HealthSouth facility into a temporary shelter

(Table provided by: City of Austin Memorandum)

What is the Health South facility?

The memo explains that staff began working on this cost estimate for the project at the request of council members at a Jan. 21 work session.

Bresiño explained that the city has owned the site since the 1950’s. They had been leasing it out to be used as a rehab center until 2016.

Then, in 2018, a city council resolution directed staff to begin taking proposals to repurpose The building, possibly for affordable housing use.

Sign on the door at the Health South facility on Red River St. (Avery Travis/KXAN)

Briseño explained that those proposals for a more long-term use for the property could take years. So in the meantime, the discussion arose for a possible temporary use as a homeless shelter.

She called it “unusual” to convert a property the city already owns into a shelter, but said they are exploring every avenue as a city to find solutions.

How feasible is it?

The site sits in city council member Natasha Harper-Madison’s district. She told KXAN she has opposed the idea since she heard about it, but the figures from Tuesday’s memo confirmed her feelings.

“My hope is that as of this last round of information that we’ve received that we can move on to a more financially feasable and viable option,” Harper-Madison said.

The Health South building and parking garage. (Avery Travis/KXAN)

At that same Jan. 21 work session, they also discussed using the Health South facility’s parking garage for storage for the homeless community.

At the time, the director of Austin Resource Recovery Ken Snipes said that the city hoped to open up that garage facility for storage in March, but that timeline could be delayed while city staff worked through a fire code compliance issue at the Health South location.

Snipes told KXAN on Tuesday morning they were still waiting to hear about that compliance issue.

In a November Austin City Council work session, the city announced they would be forgoing its prior plans to create a referral-only homeless shelter in south Austin and instead focus on acquiring hotels to house the homeless.

The South Austin Housing Center was a 1.66-acre property off of Ben White which was expected to cost the city $8.6 million to purchase. Council approved this purchase in June, but had not yet purchased the building.