This is a quick note to report back to you on some exciting developments with our Housing Heroes Austin initiative to find homes for each of Austin’s homeless veterans by the end of the year. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting closer, and we’re going to finish this job!

At the beginning of the year, there were 234 homeless veterans in Austin. When I took up this challenge in May, there were 200 remaining without homes. By Veterans Day, we still needed 118 homes for these heroes. Since then, we have secured an additional 40 leases for homeless veterans! We’ve got 78 more to go and only a few weeks left in the year, but with your help we’re going to complete this mission.

You have already done so much. When I emailed last week, many of you offered up apartments and rental houses. Thank you! And we asked you to contribute money, and boy oh boy did you step up. Since Veterans Day, the Housing Heroes Austin Fund has raised an incredible $42,174.47. This kind of support is what makes Austin such a magical city. I can’t thank you enough, but I can ask for more help. If you have apartments you want to lease to homeless veterans or would like to make your own financial contribution, please click here or call the Mayor’s Office: (512) 978-2100.

People used to think that homeless veterans were an indelible feature on the modern cityscape, that this problem was too big to truly solve. Great cities do big things, and we can accomplish this together if we all do a little – though some of us have done a lot. I’ll be updating you as we get closer to meeting the deadline at the end of the year and asking again for your help. You could be the hero we’re looking for to help house these heroes.