Wednesday, December 3, 2025, 1 p.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
Committee: Public Health Committee
The Public Health Committee held its final meeting of 2025, approving the November minutes, the reappointment of Elisa May to the Central Health Board of Managers, and its 2026 meeting dates. The committee received a briefing from Austin ISD on Project HELP, which serves homeless, foster care, and military-connected students, including data showing 1,768 homeless students served in 2024-25 and how the city's Homeless Student Assistance Fund (donations via Austin Energy bills) supports basic-need closets on campuses. Director David Gray then briefed the committee on the three-week encampment cleanup initiative, reporting 181 unique people connected to shelter, 87 to services, roughly 729 tons of debris removed, and an estimated cost near $832,000 in staff time, along with lessons learned and future recommendations. ECHO staff presented major changes in the 2025 HUD Continuum of Care funding competition, including a 30% Tier 1 cap, a 30% cap on permanent housing, and new restrictions on which disabilities qualify for permanent supportive housing, putting roughly half of the community's $8 million in CoC-funded PSH at risk. The chair proposed 2026 topics including the community health assessment, the city manager's social service reset, and strategic plan performance measures.
0:02 Health committee. The time is 1:01 pm on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025.
0:09 And we are here at Austin City Hall at the City Hall council chambers.
0:14 I am joined here by our vice chair Council Member ber uchin, as well as Council Member Alter.
0:19 Council Member Velásquez and cadre are not able to join us today.
0:24 So thank you all for being here for our very last committee meeting of the year.
0:28 For our agenda, we'll start with public communications, then we will look at the November meeting minutes for
0:34 approval. We will have a discussion on the reappointment for the central health board of managers.
0:39 Then we will review and discuss the public health committee meeting dates for the calendar year 2026.
0:46 After these actions, we'll receive a briefing from a isd on project help.
0:51 And then lastly, we'll receive a briefing update from the Austin homelessness strategies office on the latest encampment
0:59 en encampment management initiative, as well as some federal funding changes.
1:04 Are there any questions on the agenda?
1:08 Okay, clerk, we will now welcome speakers from the community.
1:11 Do we have any speakers with us today?
1:13 Yes, we have one.
1:13 Thank you. Can I have scott johnson?
1:26 Good morning or good afternoon.
1:27 Uh, Mayor pot tem and council members, thank you for scheduling a a sd to, to speak today.
1:35 I'm happy that I'm here and that she's here.
1:37 Carla scott, this is a letter sent from round rock.
1:40 Round rock does have part of their, of their school district within the Austin energy service area.
1:46 And I have contact with the liaisons that are called mckinney-vento liaisons as carla is one who's gonna
1:52 speak later. She wrote this letter.
1:54 You can follow along with me.
1:55 I'll read it. Uh, also, dear Austin, city leaders on behalf of the round rock independent school districts
2:01 families in transition program, thank you for your continued support of our students experiencing homelessness.
2:07 Our district serves more than 1100 students annually, many of whom live in Austin energy service areas.
2:14 Some of our youngsters we serve live in hotels or motels, some in their cars, others in shelters,
2:21 or doubled up with others, meaning they're staying with relatives or friends.
2:28 Our entire mission is academic based to ensure these students have the same educational opportunities as their housed
2:34 peers. This includes academic support services such as tutoring, transportation to and from school.
2:41 And of course, help with basic need resources to ensure the students can thrive in class.
2:47 The homeless student assistance funds are truly appreciated in that through the funds, we are able to provide
2:53 resources such as hygiene, backpacks, school supplies, emergency food, tennis shoes, and even air mattresses and blankets to
3:02 our students. In times like these, your support brings true hope to our students and their families, and
3:08 is greatly appreciated. Signed and grisha, the coordinator for families in transitions, mckinney-vento and foster care, as all
3:16 of the mckinney bentos are also foster care, uh, liaisons for their school district.
3:23 In terms of my interest, as you've seen me down here before, I'm the dedicated, uh, public commenter
3:28 on many issues. So I'm gonna be a little more scarce the rest of this year.
3:32 And I would like to say that this issue is an emerging issue still because the community believes
3:39 that homelessness relates to, uh, single men who are out on their own and, and some single women.
3:46 And that is partially true, but I'm very interested in moving the council and the community forward in
3:53 a direction where there are opportunities through the budgeting process and through the awareness project, through education outreach,
4:00 through Austin public health, that we can raise that awareness.
4:04 And that thereby having people in the community believe and understand that this is a systemic issue.
4:11 And if it relates to students who are normally in some family unit, then they can experience homelessness
4:17 during their elementary school years, high school years, and unfortunately sometimes beyond that.
4:23 So let's keep that in mind and let's make 2026 a better year for addressing student homelessness.
4:28 Thank you.
4:35 Anyone else? No, that's everyone.
4:37 All right. Thank you.
4:38 You welcome. Thank you for your testimony.
4:40 We'll now move on to approval of previous meeting minutes for item one.
4:44 Can I get a motion, motion vice chair seconded by councilmember Alter to approve the November 5th, 2025 meeting minutes
4:52 as presented. Any discussion, seeing none, any objection in approving the motion?
5:00 Alright, the meeting minutes from November, stand approved.
5:04 Next, we'll have item number two.
5:05 Colleagues, elisa mays, term on central health board of di of managers expires on December 31st, and she's expressed
5:14 interest in being reappointed for another term.
5:16 Believe we have been provided a, a backup of her application and materials for reappointment.
5:22 Can I get a motion motioned by Council Member Alter and seconded by vice chair uchin on the
5:29 approving the reappointment of elisa.
5:31 May. Any discussion? Seeing none.
5:36 Any objection? Nope. Alright.
5:38 No objection. The reappointment of elisa May now stands approved, and we'll go to the full City Council
5:44 for consideration. Moving on to item three, which is discussion and consideration of the public health committee meeting
5:51 dates for calendar year 2026, that those dates have been provided to you in our packet.
5:58 Uh, any comments or concerns on the schedule as presented?
6:05 All right. Can I get a motion?
6:06 Motion by vice chair uchin, seconded by Council Member Alter any or any discussion?
6:13 Any objection? Very good.
6:16 Those meeting minutes for 20, or the committee meeting dates for 2026?
6:21 Stand to prove for the record, our public health committee will be meeting on February 4th, March 4th, April 1st, May 6th,
6:29 September 2nd, October 7th, November 4th and December 2nd, 2026 with the March 4th and December 2nd meetings taking place at 1:00 pm please note that
6:41 those meeting dates are, uh, subject to change, but any, uh, changes will be made public according to
6:49 our open meetings act.
6:52 Alright, we'll now move on to item number four, which is a briefing from Austin independent school district
6:57 on project help, which is aimed at assisting homeless students and their families.
7:01 We have with us today, carla scott, the administrative supervisor at a isd.
7:06 Welcome.
7:14 Oh, now I am, I'm so sorry.
7:16 Thank you for your time, Mayor proti and the rest of the council.
7:20 I am carla grace scott.
7:22 I have the privilege of serving as the administrative supervisor of the Austin isd project help program, where
7:28 our primary goal is to serve homeless, foster care, and military connected students.
7:34 This, um, program or this office has been in existence in a isd over 25 years.
7:40 Uh, I have been the steward for the last five, and, uh, I am just here to share
7:44 with you some of the collective work that our program does and how we do that with the
7:50 support of partners, including the city of Austin.
7:53 So thank you for your time today.
7:55 Um, the first couple of slides that you'll see, um, relate to what the mckinney-vento act is.
8:01 This act was started in 1987 under president reagan, and it ensures that students who are homeless, no
8:09 matter where they live, have some rights that allow them to continue with their education without interruption.
8:16 That could mean if a student is homeless and they're living in south Austin, but their original school
8:21 was in north Austin, that child, that child and that family, they don't have to transfer schools just
8:26 because they're living in a shelter or with family.
8:29 That means that this act ensures that that student's continuity of education can stay in place.
8:35 So this act ensures that that student can receive transportation to go to their school of origin.
8:41 It also means that the student is afforded, um, free lunch and supplies or whatever that student needs
8:48 to remove the barrier to continue to pursue their education.
8:51 So, I'm not gonna go through all of this.
8:53 You can, you can see it, and I'm happy to offline answer any questions that you might have.
8:59 Um, in the next slide, I wanna just share this.
9:02 Who is, who is eligible for services?
9:05 What students? These are students who are doubled up with other people.
9:09 They May be living in homeless shelters.
9:11 They May be in hotels, they May be in cars, parks, uh, abandoned buildings, train stations.
9:17 Um, and I can tell you in a isd, we have students who are in all of these
9:22 spaces, and we serve those families and those, those students in all of these places, our role is
9:28 to identify them, ensure that they're enrolled immediately, and that they can continue with the continuity of their
9:35 education without any other, uh, barriers that May happen.
9:40 On the next slide, again, who's eligible?
9:44 Our biggest numbers, and I'm gonna show some data in just a little bit, are students who are
9:49 doubled up, meaning they're living with family.
9:51 They could be living with, um, relatives in other parts of the city, or we have students that
9:57 are living in surrounding cc communities, um, like bastrop or mainor.
10:01 And we ensure that those students have a, have transportation from wherever they're living to their school.
10:07 In Austin, isd these are families who have been impacted by eviction.
10:12 Um, some just have inadequate housing, uh, families who are in between, uh, maybe a week with this
10:19 family member, another week with this family member.
10:21 All of these scenarios happen and also means that, uh, families who have been impacted with the loss
10:27 of a job and don't know where to go.
10:29 Um, I can tell you we have students who are living with their family in a car, in
10:34 a walmart parking lot right now.
10:36 We have kids who are living in, uh, hotels.
10:39 We have kids who are living in campgrounds, you name it.
10:43 We have students that we serve in all of these scenarios.
10:47 So our role in our job is to ensure that those kids are one I identified, and the
10:52 campuses understand what their work with they're living in so they can receive services.
10:57 Um, another, um, growing concern or a growing number of students that we are servicing are those students
11:04 who are unaccompanied. These are students who have, um, run away from home, but they're still going to
11:11 school. These are kids who have been abandoned by their families.
11:16 Um, believe it or not, those things do happen.
11:18 And, um, kids who are just couch surfing, they just don't know where to go.
11:23 Um, so our role is to one, identify the student, ensure that we know where they're living so
11:28 they can continue with their education, and we also connect them with community partners that might be able
11:35 to stand in the gap in some of the areas that these students have.
11:39 We have unaccompanied youth as young as fourth grade, all the way up through high school seniors.
11:49 So what are some of those legal expectations?
11:52 Again, I mentioned immediate enrollment, meaning the moment a student, uh, or a family presents themselves to an
11:58 a isd school, we, whether they have all the documents, whether they have the birth certificates and the
12:03 social security cards, whatever those items are, those students, just by completing a form called the student residency
12:10 questionnaire, allows them at that moment to enroll in school.
12:14 It does not mean that those required documents are not collected later.
12:19 It just means at that moment, at that time, that family is presenting themselves as homeless.
12:23 We're able to serve them.
12:25 So our office works with the campus to ensure that we've gathered whatever documents might be needed to
12:31 complete the entire official enrollment packet.
12:34 It also ensures, again, that the student is able to attend their school of origin.
12:38 And, and again, wherever they're living, they don't have to go to the school in the area.
12:43 If their friends, if their normalcy is in their school of origin, a school in north Austin, no
12:49 matter where they're living, they can continue in that school.
12:53 It also means that our, our district, um, is responsible for ensuring that students enrolled in a isd,
13:00 no matter where they're living, we're able to give them transportation.
13:04 If that transportation means that a child is on a route from south Austin to their north Austin
13:09 school, or that family's living in mainor and their school of origin is in Austin, whatever those parameters