After eight years under the City of Austin’s purview, the Austin Homelessness Advisory Council (AHAC) will be supported and overseen by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO), through a continued partnership with the City, beginning on June 16, 2025. The transition to ECHO will position AHAC to have more influence across the community’s Homelessness Response System (HRS).

Media are welcome to attend the last half hour of AHAC’s meeting scheduled for Monday, June 16 from 12:30–1 p.m. at ECHO’s office, located at 210 Barton Springs Road, Suite 400. Robert Kingham, Court Administrator for Downtown Austin Community Court, Matt Mollica, Executive Director for ECHO, and AHAC Members will have media availability in ECHO’s office from 1–2 p.m.

“AHAC is a very important tool for stakeholders in our community. Any program using lived experience to make policy is advantageous in my opinion,” said AHAC Member Michael Davis. “ECHO’s reach to the community is very broad! I myself am excited to work with such professional and friendly people.”

AHAC was initiated in 2017 through the City’s former Innovation Office (now incorporated into the Office of Budget and Organizational Excellence) and funded by a Bloomberg Philanthropies grant. Comprised of individuals with lived experience with homelessness in Austin, AHAC integrates voices of people who have used the community’s homeless services into the design, review, and enhancement of programs, policies and services affecting Austin’s unhoused community.

When the grant funding concluded in 2019, AHAC found a home at the City of Austin’s Downtown Austin Community Court (DACC), a problem-solving court that prioritizes providing essential and housing-focused services rooted in compassion and best practices.

“The Austin Homelessness Advisory Council has been invaluable in informing services across Downtown Austin Community Court and countless other City departments and community organizations,” said Robert Kingham, Court Administrator for Downtown Austin Community Court. “We’re excited to continue to partner with them, while seeing their work evolve to be embedded directly in an organization dedicated to working on Austin’s broader Homelessness Response System.”

ECHO has worked with AHAC since their inception, bringing a variety of topics for their review and guidance. Over the last two years, ECHO has hosted quarterly AHAC meetings and supported other engagement opportunities including a site visit to Esperanza Community and attendance at the National Lived Experience Leadership Conference in 2023 and 2024.

With this transition, ECHO will lead facilitation, agenda planning, and administrative support for AHAC, fostering a natural evolution of AHAC’s work. As the lead agency for the Austin/Travis County HRS, ECHO’s coordination will broaden the scope of services and policies AHAC informs while allowing AHAC to remain a resource for City departments and community organizations seeking guidance from individuals who have experienced homelessness.

“ECHO is excited and grateful for the opportunity to expand on our relationship with AHAC," said Matt Mollica, Executive Director for the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition. "People who have had to access housing and services through our system are keenly aware of areas we can do better and what is working well. A closer relationship with AHAC will allow us to better audit our work from the lens of lived experience. The result will be better policies and programs so that everyone in Austin has the housing of their choice.”

AHAC Members accomplished much during their time with the City, notably:

• Being instrumental in the creation and design of the Violet KeepSafe Storage Program (VKS), a free service managed by DACC which enables individuals experiencing homelessness to safely store their vital documents, family memories, clothing, bedding and more.
• Educating service providers across Texas by leading panels at the Texas Conference on Ending Homelessness in 2022 and 2023.
• Collaborating directly with a variety of community organizations and City entities – such as the Homeless Strategy Office, Austin Public Health, Watershed Protection, the Office of Police Oversight, and the Austin Public Library.

“I want to have a real impact in the Austin community. AHAC is a real-life representation of what is happening, we put a face on what has happened and what can happen. We’re finding solutions and getting them to the people that can do the most good,” said AHAC Member Tracey Moody. “DACC has given a good foundation and good guidance on how we can truly effect change. I’m looking forward to doing more! To being exposed to more, more opportunities to expand our outreach on a larger scale.”

For more about DACC, please visit www.austintexas.gov/communitycourt; for more information about ECHO, please visit https://www.austinecho.org.

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