The City of Austin has dramatically increased taxpayer spending on homelessness-related programs in recent years, but the number of people counted as homeless has also increased alongside it.
In 2017, the City of Austin and Travis County recorded more than 2,000 people experiencing homelessness, according to a chart made by Austin Justice. By 2025, that number has risen to more than 3,200, a nearly 60% increase, according to data from Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO).
At the same time as the homelessness numbers increased, so did the amount of money the city was awarding to nonprofit organizations and other service providers operating shelters, providing housing assistance, conducting outreach, and performing other homelessness-related services.
In 2017, the City of Austin spent $35 million to combat the homelessness crisis occurring, but the number never went down, instead the City continued increasing its spending to $118 million in 2025.
However, Austin’s own financial records provide a more specific look at spending by the city’s Homeless Strategies and Operations office.
According to Austin Finance Online, the Homeless Strategies and Operations office recorded approximately $30.84 million in expenditures in 2025. The largest portion, approximately $25.9 million, came from the city’s General Fund. Another $4.29 million came from the Housing Trust Fund, while roughly $648,000 came from other funding sources.
The figures represent expenditures by the city’s Homeless Strategies and Operations office. However, the city also made direct payments to multiple nonprofit organizations.
A portion of Austin’s homelessness spending was distributed through grants to organizations providing services to people experiencing homelessness.
According to Austin Finance Online, the city’s Homeless Strategies and Operations office recorded approximately $25.81 million in 2025 General Fund grants to subrecipients under its homelessness program.
The largest recipient listed in the city’s records was Urban Alchemy, which received approximately $3.73 million. The Austin Area Urban League received about $3.21 million, followed by Family Endeavors at approximately $2.30 million.
Other organizations receiving more than $1 million included Sunrise Community Church, which received about $1.99 million; the Salvation Army, which received approximately $1.82 million; Foundation Communities, which received about $1.79 million; The Other Ones Foundation, which received approximately $1.63 million; Youth and Family Alliance, which received about $1.53 million; Caritas of Austin, which received approximately $1.21 million; Austin-Travis County MHMR, which received more than $1 million; and Family Eldercare, which received approximately $1.14 million.
Additional recipients included Casa Marianella, ECHO, Austin Clubhouse, Mission Accomplished, Catholic Charities and Social Finance.
The organizations provide a range of services, including shelter, housing assistance, outreach and other programs intended to address homelessness. The city categorizes these payments as grants to subrecipients, meaning the figures represent funding distributed through the city’s homelessness program rather than the entirety of each organization’s revenue or operating budget.
Even with the city’s lack of success, the Austin City Council proposed additional funding for homelessness-related programs in its Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget.
The proposed budget includes approximately $10.6 million for 300 new Rapid Rehousing beds and more than $7.8 million to support permanent supportive housing units in the pipeline. Another $6.24 million is proposed for new permanent supportive housing units and services.
The city also proposed approximately $1.3 million for Rapid Rehousing case management and more than $3.1 million for Homeless Strategies and Operations programmatic and support staff.
The figures do not, by themselves, establish why the homeless population has changed or how individual programs have affected the overall count. They do, however, show that the number of people counted as experiencing homelessness has continued to rise despite the millions of dollars Austin has allocated toward addressing the issue.
