Reports & Research

In Texas, 33% of youth who age out of foster care experience Homelessness Response System has nearly tripled in the past three years. Among these youth, 53% report a history in foster care. ECHO partnered with University of Texas at Austin researchers and service partner Change 1 to conduct this study to understand how to better support young people’s housing needs and long-term wellbeing.

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Our community’s first unhoused mortality report is a comprehensive analysis of who’s dying on our streets, the leading causes of death, and what homelessness response and health systems can do about it.

The report collects and analyzes six years’ worth of quantitative data from our local Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), hospital records, medical examiner death data, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCWonder) for comparisons to Travis County. These data, paired with a substantial amount of qualitative data collected through listening sessions with people experiencing homelessness and service providers, make this the most comprehensive report on homelessness mortality in the country.

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ECHO’s Research & Evaluation Team analyzed qualitative and quantitative data for a submission to the United Nations International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement.

Read ECHO’s input (PDF)

Supported by the St. David’s Foundation Data for Equity grant, ECHO conducted a community-based qualitative research project in 2022, entitled “The Art of the Heart is to Hear with the Ear,” which has revealed insights as to the accessibility of the Homelessness Response System for the Black unsheltered community in the Austin area.

Explore the Interactive Project  Full Report (PDF)

Using publicly available data and information about where people in Travis County lose their housing, we show that homelessness is a structural problem, one that can be prevented by addressing underlying socioeconomic conditions. To show where the risk of becoming homeless is greatest, we have created a Homelessness Vulnerability Index that incorporates socioeconomic data at the Census Tract level.

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Austin and Travis County leaders have made historic investments in housing and homeless services in recent years. The returns are evident: Housing providers in our Homelessness Response System (HRS) connected more than 3,000 people to places to live in 2023, a 53% jump from the year before. Yet recent investments, while critical, have not been enough to make up for years of under-funding and historically high housing costs. Providers here have excelled despite these and other challenges, delivering best-in-the-nation supports to help people stay housed long-term. At the same time, the number of folks ending up homeless for the first time is rising, and there are already thousands of people waiting to hear from a housing provider.

This policy brief examines factors contributing to this ongoing crisis, comparing data across six of the nation’s ten largest cities (as well as several metro areas that bear similarities to our own) and identifying our system’s relative strengths and challenges. Together, the facts and recommendations presented here point to a hopeful future, one in which every person living in our community can access the resources and support they want and need to thrive.

Read the brief Data supplement

Leveraging federal dollars available through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Austin/Travis County Homelessness Response System is on the cusp of a “‘massive surge’ of supportive housing.” A substantial portion of this housing surge will be project-based Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) units. These kinds of units insulate providers from volatile private housing markets case managers are currently forced to contend with in trying to connect people with places to live.

This brief explores how the federal government can help ensure this central piece of our rehousing system is robust by growing the availability of vouchers for PSH, streamlining and growing capital funding for housing providers, and increasing funding opportunities for supportive services.

Read the brief