Houston City Council voted to hand over operations of the city’s new homeless services facility in East Downtown to the Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
On Wednesday, the council approved a pair of ordinances that authorize a lease for the city-owned property at 419 Emancipation Avenue and a $39 million contract for the Harris Center to run the site through April 2029.
The facility is expected to hold up to 222 beds and serve roughly 750 people per year. It will operate around the clock as a low-barrier entry point for people experiencing homelessness, with on-site staff focused on transitioning residents into longer-term housing. City documents show the funding will cover facility operations, utilities, on-site food preparation, security, pet care, maintenance, and case management services.
Mayor John Whitmire described the project as the first in a series of planned facilities, saying the goal is to move homeless individuals off Houston’s streets and out of its neighborhoods. He said officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have taken notice of the approach. “Even the HUD officials yesterday, as they looked at the homeless issue across the nation,” Whitmire said during the council meeting, “they like our holistic approach and our public safety emphasis.”
The mayor said the facility will include Houston Police Department homeless outreach officers and a sergeant stationed on site. City officials said they hope to open the facility in June.
The project will be financed by $30 million in federal disaster recovery funding plus $9.1 million from the city’s End Street Homelessness fund.
The Harris Center, which serves as Harris County’s state-designated local mental health authority, is already the largest public behavioral health provider in Texas. It operates programs specifically targeting homeless populations, including outreach teams that connect unsheltered individuals with housing, medical treatment, and government services.
The Emancipation Avenue property has a complicated recent history. The site previously operated as a Star of Hope shelter until 2017 and was later used by Southwest Key as an illegal alien children’s shelter until the organization lost much of its federal funding under the Trump administration, resulting in widespread closures. The city announced its intent to purchase the property in the fall of 2025, paying $16 million for two lots appraised at $6.7 million. Council approved that purchase separately.
The project has not been without pushback. When it was first proposed, residents near the East Downtown site raised concerns about public safety, the concentration of homeless services in the area, and what they said was insufficient community input in the early planning stages. At a public meeting last fall, some residents challenged city officials directly and questioned whether the facility would increase disruption to the surrounding area.
City officials have maintained that the site was selected because of its proximity to high concentrations of homeless individuals. They have described the facility as a transitional entry point rather than a permanent shelter and have pushed back against characterizations that it will worsen conditions in the neighborhood.
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