Austin, Texas's Approach to Homelessness | How it changes Urban Planning

Around 3,500 people are homeless in Austin, Texas. This includes people in emergency shelters and transitional housing, as well as people sleeping on streets.

Because of this, there have been many approaches made to bring an end to homelessness in the city. Of these is a village dedicated towards providing community and housing to the homeless, called, Community First.

Community First was founded in 2004 by Alan Graham, who first started out providing free meals to the homeless through a truck ministry called Mobile Loaves & Fishes. This ministry was started in the late 1900's and eventually raised enough money to buy one gently used RV that they used to lift one person off the streets. Overtime, this ministry was able to lift hundreds of people off the streets and into RV's, which gave way to the idea of creating permanent housing for the homeless, which eventually became the village of Community First.

Now Community First has 440 residents and has served around 7 million meals through their truck food ministry. They also provide lots of opportunities for people to volunteer with them. Of these include their local Community Market, their Genesis Gardens, their Farmers Market, and their Art House, where people are able to serve and provide a welcoming environment for the residents of the village.

This village has accomplished so much towards Austin's goal of ending homelessness, and their unique neighborhood is something that should be taken account for in modern day urban planning.