I am reaching the end of my third year as president of the board of Front Steps. My board membership has been an education in the issues and challenges of serving persons experiencing homelessness. In the process, I have come to appreciate and admire the work that the staff and leadership of the organization does to serve its clients.
Front Steps runs the men's shelter, the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, that is owned by the City of Austin, and has done so since the shelter opened. The shelter was built to serve 100 men, and now shelters an average of 230 men every night, and several hundred additional men and women who enter its doors every day. Clients are treated with dignity and respect and are offered services through a complex web of programs and service providers who are located at the center.
Front Steps also provides permanent supportive housing for its clients, and provides case management services to its housed clients. It also provides transitional housing services to homeless persons discharged from the hospital, and financial and other services to persons and families to avoid loss of their homes. Front Steps is on the front lines of homeless services in our community and is seen as a resource and leader in the service-provider community and by the staff at the City. I am proud to have a part in carrying out Front Steps' mission of providing a pathway to home for its clients.
Review from Guidestar
Most people don't know that Front Steps manages the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, provides Permanent Supportive Housing and assists homeless individuals recover from medical trauma.
Why? Isn't homelessness an issue in Austin, TX? Don't we want to support getting people off the street and into housing? Don't we feel live everybody deserves a home?
I think it's because this issue is so complex. Mental health, addiction, physical disabilities are all difficult reminders how fortunate most of us are by comparison. And because we don't have any easy solutions, it feels better to think of the homeless- when we think of the homeless - as somebody else's 'problem.'
Front Steps does an incredible thing in our community... providing showers, bathrooms, case management, addiction recovery, support, education and so much more to over 500 individuals EACH DAY! Sheltering 230 men each night. Housing 54 men and women. Finding homes for 160 people every year.
It takes a lot of dedication, commitment and compassion to meet such complex needs - and the staff, volunteers, donors and board members at Front Steps quietly go about the daily task of helping those who need it most.
Homeless services are severely under-funded in our community and with more, Front Steps could do more. For less than $14 per night, Front Steps makes shelter possible. But what if there were $25 per night available... and instead of shelter, we could put a permanent roof over someone's head? That's the goal of Front Steps... not to keep someone in shelter, but to make more HOUSING opportunities available.
To everyone at Front Steps, and those working so hard to move from shelter to a new and better life... best wishes and keep hope alive!