Austin shelter opens new wing $6.5M renovation also adds child care facility to campus
As though they were plucked out of a Dr. Seuss book, whimsical gemlike structures now greet visitors at the Austin Shelter for Women and Children after the completion of a $6.5 million renovation and expansion that Austin city officials celebrated Friday.
Owned by Travis County and operated by the Salvation Army, the East Austin shelter needed more space to house homeless women and children, Salvation Army Area Cmdr. Andrew Kelly said. The improvement project added a 4,900-square-foot wing for up to 34 more residents and a 3,200-square-foot child care facility to the campus, which were funded by bonds approved in 2012, a grant from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and the Austin Public Health Department.
The 17,000-square-foot shelter now has a total of 81 beds, and families are already living in the new wing. More space will open in January 2019, adding 214 beds to the shelter, said Jan Gunter, deputy development director for the Salvation Army. Construction began in February 2017 and was completed this month, she said.
The shelter has a waiting list that averages at least 300 women, Kelly said, and 340 women are waiting to get a spot in the shelter.
“That’s a living, breathing list that people are calling regularly to make sure their names remain on that list,” Kelly said. The women can come from a dangerous living situation or they might be staying with others.
“There’s many different circumstances that they could find themselves in, but basically they are homeless,” Kelly said. “They don’t have their own home, and
they don’t have the stability that the children need. What we provide here is a safe place for them to land, to find shelter.”
The shelter offers women long-term case management to get back on their feet and job help, along with child care for infants to 4-yearolds. New family rooms feature high ceilings, closets, cribs, and bunk beds. A new living room and more bathrooms also were installed.
The kitchen ceiling was renovated, a fire suppression system was installed, and improvements for wheelchair accessibility were made.
Part of the expansion project added an interactive art installation outside the child care center in the playground. “Reflect and Resound” was designed by artist Virginia Fleck, who hopes the playground where her piece stands can be a relaxing environment where kids can wonder and explore.
A sherbet-shaded multifaceted giant gem, with a kaleidoscope inside, stands next to a sound-projecting green and blue gem in an interactive art installation outside the shelter’s new child care center at the shelter.
“Gems have always been valued throughout time and across all cultures. Why don’t I make playhouses that are gem-shaped, so children and the parents can enter them and be them?” Fleck said of her design.