Housing

Front Steps is committed to providing a full range of services to support our clients in moving from homelessness to safe, affordable long-term housing. While we coordinate closely with other homeless services providers in the community to access both transitional and permanent housing options, we also operate two housing programs of our own: transitional  and permanent housing.

Transitional Housing

Front Steps has 15 units of transitional housing for clients of the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) and the Central Texas Recuperative Care Project. At any given time, we also assist 10 to 20 additional clients with paying a portion of their rent.

One aspect of our transitional housing program is called First Steps, which is generously funded by the Religious Coalition to Assist the Homeless. First Steps provides varying types of support to Front Steps' clients who are moving out of the shelter and into either transitional or permanent housing. For some clients, this may mean paying the rent on a subsidized unit within public housing or a single room occupancy (SRO) unit until they begin receiving their own income. For others, First Steps may pay the move-in costs (security deposit, first month’s rent, household furnishings, etc.).

These transitional housing units are sub-leased to clients on a time-limited basis (6-18 months), until they can obtain permanent affordable housing of their own.

Permanent Housing

Front Steps, through a Supportive Housing Program for Persons with Disabilities contract with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), provides 10 units of affordable, subsidized scattered site apartments with supportive services. 80% of the participants of this program meet the definition of chronically homeless, having been homeless for more than one year or four or more times in the past three years, and having a documented disabling condition. Clients pay 30% of their income toward rent. Weekly case management meetings focus on keeping the client housed, including working on skills such as money management, housekeeping, and living in community with neighbors, as well as issues specific to each client, such as applying for supplemental security income (SSI) or social security disability insurance (SSDI), finding and keeping employment, and addressing medical needs.

After our first year operating this program, 100% of the clients have maintained their housing for at least six months