City leaders have proposed scaling back the capacity of the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless in an effort to provide more services.

When reports came back in 2018 that put year-over-year homelessness growth at 5 percent—exacerbating an already contentious issue—the mayor and council responded by elevating homelessness to priority No. 1. They added $2.4 million in their budget for related programs, boosting their expected fiscal year 2018-19 expenditure to a new high of $26.3 million.Community members have criticized the city for what they say is a lack of resources in battling the homeless crisis. Central to that ire is the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, the lone city-owned shelter at the corner of Seventh and Neches streets.The ARCH can only house 190 men per night in city that has a nightly average of over 2,000 homeless people, according to reports. The center consistently overflows with those seeking services.This year, the city will try to reshape the ARCH from a nightly homeless shelter to what Adler called a triage center for services. Currently, all overnight clients are cleared out in the morning, and roughly 70 percent leave without receiving case management, according to the Austin Public Health Department.In the redesign, which District 9 Council Member Kathie Tovo expects council to vote on early in 2019, the ARCH will scale back capacity by 60 beds but allow the 130 clients to stay for longer than a single night. Every person sheltered will be connected with case management and each of the other services offered by the city to begin moving them out of homelessness. The city also budgeted for what Adler referred to as a “homelessness czar” who will oversee all the city’s homelessness efforts.Tovo sees the new system as more efficient in helping people exit homelessness, but a capacity decrease at the ARCH will initially place more people on the streets. She said finding a new emergency shelter will be a top priority.“I don’t know what the solutions are, but we need to find it,” Tovo said.