Austin scraps million dollar "comprehensive review" of homeless services

AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- The City of Austin won't move forward with a "comprehensive review" of strategies and programs aimed at the area's homelessness crisis.

Interim City Manager Jesús Garza informed City Council members of the decision in a memo Thursday .

"I have concluded that the conditions for the assessment have changed such that we cannot achieve the community-wide impact originally envisioned," Garza wrote.

The original scope of the project called for a $2 million contract with McKinsey & Company. While the City of Austin, Central Health, and Integral Care all approved funding going towards the review, Travis County Commissioners voted to reject the proposal and not contribute funding.

Last week, Garza said city staff was working to finalize a new contract with McKinsey to work within a budget of $1.35 million - the amount of funding approved by the three parties, without Travis County's involvement. In Thursday's memo, Garza said "it has become difficult to define a successful scope" under the new budget framework, prompting the solicitation to be closed.

The city is slated to spend upwards of $80 million this fiscal year on its homelessness services and programs.

"Having said that, I do want to reiterate my continued support for having a comprehensive review conducted along with the above-mentioned partners," Garza said. "The months of good work among representatives with all four entities to help define the scope of the assessment serve as a solid foundation to help us -- together -- determine a path going forward on our mutual purpose to make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring."