On a cool East Austin morning, a black van rumbling with speakers and splashed in paint turns onto 12th Street. It’s Chase Wright’s rig — the mobile heartbeat of Hungry Hill Foundation — pulling up to a former Phillips 66 that now doubles as a resource center. Inside, staff are stacking sandwiches in the fridge and warming a skillet out back. The first order of business, Wright says, is always the same.

“Nobody’s gonna go to work on an empty stomach,” Wright told Austin Free Press.

A program built on jobs

Wright founded Hungry Hill to offer what he calls hand ups, not handouts. “This is not a charity,” he explained. “We take pride in giving people jobs or making them more employable because we want you to feel that empowerment and ownership.” Austin Free Press

The nonprofit’s four-tier workforce model is designed to remove barriers that keep people unhoused. Consultant Kayla Bey said Level One covers basics — food, clothing, hygiene, cooling or heating stations, and crucial documents such as a birth certificate, Social Security card, driver’s license or bus pass. Level Two offers temporary placements; Level Three moves clients through resumes, certifications, or job training for “long-term success.” At least 70% of clients reach Level Three, Bey said, and about half “graduate” to Level Four, coming back to work, volunteer, or mentor others, according to Austin Free Press.

The operation has grown quickly. With new private donors and local contracts — including with the city’s Economic Development Department and Central Health — Hungry Hill now runs on roughly $600,000 a year, employing six full-time staffers and about 175 workers overall, according to Austin Free Press. Resource Center Director Sherri Beverlin, who rebuilt her life after incarceration and trauma, said the staff’s lived experience is an asset. “I was scared to live by myself, and I didn’t know how to pay for anything,” Beverlin said. “Then Chase gave me a second chance and a purpose.” Austin Free Press

“Our unique experiences help us develop a different relationship with our clients,” Beverlin said. “We’re able to empathize and build trust because a lot of times an unhoused individual has trust issues due to people taking their money or taking advantage.” Austin Free Press

A city under pressure

Even as Hungry Hill widens its reach, the need is rising around it. Unique people receiving homelessness-related services in Austin and Travis County rose nearly 42% between 2022 and 2023 — from roughly 17,200 to more than 24,300 — with a surge in first-time clients and high rates of disabling conditions, according to Community Impact. “I think it’s really easy to get a little shocked by the numbers, and I think it is important for us to address it to and to plan for how we’re going to handle this sort of increase, and look at the future and what we’re going to need to provide services,” said Joseph Montaño, ECHO’s director of research and evaluation, according to Community Impact.

Point-in-time surveys counted 2,374 people experiencing homelessness in an overnight snapshot in early 2023, and HUD/local estimates put the 2024 tally near 2,975, reporting by the Austin Monitor shows. “Austin has done a lot over the last couple of years to try to create more permanent housing,” said Matt Mollica, ECHO’s executive director. Austin Monitor

“We’ve increased our shelter capacity quite substantially, but that’s come along with an increase in rents, and cost-burdened households continue to increase in our community,” Mollica said. Austin Monitor

Youth homelessness is a particularly fast-moving front. The number of unaccompanied youth under 25 has nearly quadrupled since 2020, driven by foster care exits and housing instability, according to the Austin Monitor. “It’s alarming in the sense that it signifies the work that we have to do,” said David Gray, the city’s homeless strategy officer. Austin Monitor

“When you think about having that many transitions, changing schools, potentially, that many times, it’s not surprising that young people are really, really challenged to then make it on their own when they’re exiting the foster care system,” said Liz Schoenfeld, CEO of LifeWorks. Austin Monitor

Behind those numbers is a worsening housing market. Affordable and available rentals for households earning up to half the median family income fell from 49 to 42 units per 100 households between 2022 and 2023; for those at 30% of median income, the number fell from 22 to 16, data from Austin Echo shows.

Politics and the funding squeeze

Local politics have tightened the vise on services. After voters rejected Proposition Q in November, City Council cut more than $95 million, including reductions to rapid rehousing, diversion, landlord engagement and the housing trust fund, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman. Explaining voter sentiment, Mayor Kirk Watson said, “They’re worried about their finances, their grocery and utility bills, their property taxes, and more.” Houston Chronicle

Wright and his team are feeling those constraints. Hungry Hill doesn’t yet have a contract with the city’s Homeless Strategy Office, though both sides say they want one. “Hungry Hill is providing a value to taxpayers,” said Gray. “So it’s important we compensate.” Austin Free Press

A partnership on the street — and a loss

City officials say Hungry Hill’s on-the-ground presence has become essential. Gray credited the nonprofit with helping “build better relationships” with unsheltered neighbors and connecting more people to services. He calls Wright — 6-foot-5, 334 pounds, often behind the wheel of that unmistakable van — “a big teddy bear,” according to Austin Free Press.

But recent weeks have been heavy at the resource center. A former client died by suicide, a loss that Wright says has shaped how the team tends to grief and stress. “He was a really good kid and a success story,” Wright said. “He was family.” Austin Free Press He described how the foundation and partners tried to steady the young father as the pressures of unstable housing and finances mounted. “Government leaders don’t understand the mental stress this puts on people,” said Wright. Austin Free Press He arranged for the man’s family to stay rent-free temporarily. If you or someone you know is struggling, call 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

“Even as we progress, prices keep going up,” Wright said. “I call it the nicks of life.” Austin Free Press

The long view

Wright’s own story — East Austin childhood, incarceration, homelessness during the 2021 winter, then a hard reset — informs Hungry Hill’s ethos. He broke from an early financial backer he says exploited vulnerable people and rebuilt the foundation’s support base. “It was a lesson for me,” Wright said. “I stand on my own now.” Austin Free Press

For Bey, the priority is sustaining and scaling what works. “In the future, I would love to see more donations, more funding, and more contracts so we can expand our outreach services team and have a greater impact,” she said. Austin Free Press

At day’s end, Wright circles back to the job site, radios buzzing, a crew heading to another temporary placement. The vision is stubbornly optimistic, even as budgets tighten and the city’s counts rise. “We did something never done before,” Wright said. “We came out of the dirt and made diamonds.” Austin Free Press

Read the press release at austinfreepress.org.

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