San Marcos City Council discuss various models to aid residents experiencing homelessness

Amira Van Leeuwen | Staff Reporter 

SAN MARCOS – The San Marcos City Council held a work session to discuss various models that may be implemented in San Marcos to assist residents experiencing homelessness or who are in danger of becoming homeless through transitional housing and support services.

City Council is looking to transition from a traditional model of funding toward more of an outcome-based model.

City staff recommends developing a high-level vision for a draft model in partnership with the Local Homelessness Coalition or consider waiting until after the needs assessment is complete before allocating the $400,000 American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding.

The Esperanza Community, a 150 sanctioned encampment in Austin, Texas is one model that was considered among City Council members. Another example that was considered suitable for the discussion was Mandy Chapman Semple, a Houston/Dallas model. The third example discussed and that was heavily favored by City Staff and Council Members Functional Zero that utilizes a data-driven, community-level approach to address broken support systems and focus funding in the right areas.

Council Member Maxfield Baker, who is in favor of all three recommendation models, thinks that the city of San Marcos needs to continue dedicating its time and resources to working with partners like the Southside Community Center. 

“I would hate to see us settle into one model or forgo some of the wins these other models might provide,” Baker said.

Council Member Alyssa Garza who is also in favor of all three recommendations would like a work session to unpack these important issues. 

“Homelessness is too important of a mission for us to just base it on our preconceived notions and what we carry around,” Garza said. 

“We’re not experts in homelessness. My fellow councilmembers – I think only two of us have visited the homeless camps and even that is very subjective,” Garza continued to say.

Director of Public Safety Chase Stapp said that he is excited to see the recommendations of the Needs Assessment. According to Stapp, the needs assessment will take about six months until completion and the assessment is already about a month underway.

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