Grassroots advocacy group asks Austin City Council to adopt Tax Rate Election

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin City Council is days away from passing the city's budget for the next fiscal year. Grassroots advocacy group Vocal Texas has called for council members to adopt a Tax Rate Election (TRE) to help fund programs like housing and homelessness services, harm reduction, and public health.

Leaders of Vocal Texas held a joint press conference with several council members, service providers, and labor leaders outside City Hall on Thursday afternoon to call for a TRE, which Vocal Texas said would "secure long-term funding for housing, homeless services, and public health," a press release noted.

Vocal Texas said in the press release that it's calling for those things in the wake of a recent executive order that made cuts to federal funding, while American Rescue Plan Act funds are running out.

The group claims that without the passage of the TRE, Austin will see cuts to housing programs, services and the closure of Austin’s largest homeless shelter.

Aloki Shah, president of United Workers of Integral Care, spoke at the press conference, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing funding for service providers who offer medical and emergency care 24/7, as well as the need to fill gaps that the rescission of federal funding will leave.

"We've been asking for local housing vouchers for our neighbors who are about to lose their ARPA-funded emergency housing vouchers," Shah said. "People have been stably housed for years, building lives and stability, are being thrown into uncertainty due to bureaucratic billings happening hundreds of miles away. That ain't right."

Shah said that without the funding, people would be forced back into homelessness.

"We need a tax rate election on the ballot that ensures services for our people," Shah said. "The Homeless Strategy Office has a plan to move people from rapid rehousing to permanent supportive housing [and] increase emergency shelter and homeless outreach, but plans mean nothing without the funding to make them real. A tax rate election is how we lock in that funding and let voters decide."

The press conference was held the same day city council members laid out their tax rate election proposals. Read more about each proposal here.