Since the beginning of 2021, St. David’s Foundation has invested $13 million towards a community response to the issue of homelessness in Travis County. This investment supports a broad array of projects aligned with the community-led initiative, “Finding Home ATX.” The funds have been used to expand the supply of emergency, transitional, and permanent housing for unhoused individuals and to strengthen coordination of services across sectors and providers.
Below are remarks delivered by Dr. Edward Burger, President and CEO of St. David’s Foundation, at the Finding Home ATX Press Conference on November 2, 2022.
It’s a pleasure to be here today as we acknowledge and celebrate the positive momentum generated by so many in making the experience of homelessness in our area rare, brief, and non-recurring.
Since the beginning of 2021, St. David’s Foundation has invested $13 million towards a community response to the issue of homelessness in Travis County. The most recent $10 million dollars invested intentionally supports the goals and work of Finding Home ATX.
Investing in projects that align with the goals of Finding Home ATX is important to us because, for example, it allowed us to create an “early warning system” to prevent people from becoming unhoused as well as a community-wide data system that helps those who are unhoused receive the support services they require.
It’s a big goal to create housing and services for 3,000 of our neighbors—but it can be realized if we do it together. This is a community issue that requires a community solution in which all individuals and sectors come together to do their part. It benefits us all to be a part of the effort to end homelessness.
We at St. David’s Foundation are proud to see many from our community—private donors, foundations, corporations, and the City and County—come together to humanely support our neighbors. But this effort truly must involve us all.
And, although great strides have been made, there is more to be done. So, we invite everyone who shares St. David’s Foundation vision for Central Texas to be a vibrant and inclusive community in which every individual can flourish and reach their full potential to join this important cause—not just for our community; but because it is the just thing to do.