Maria Pérez heard she was close to homelessness from an unlikely source. It wasn't a case manager or anyone from the administrative staff at Salvation Army's downtown shelter, where she's been staying. 'I heard it from the lady that cleans,' she said.
Maria Pérez heard she was weeks away from homelessness from an unlikely source. It wasn't a case manager or anyone from the administrative staff at the Salvation Army downtown shelter, where she's been staying for weeks.Pérez had been struggling to hold down an apartment, so she got a room at the shelter, which has about 100 beds. In February, management announced they were shutting down the site, and that Pérez and other residents had until March 15 to leave.
Pérez, who's lived in Austin since 2001, was given an option: a bus ticket to Dallas, where the Salvation Army has another shelter.Pérez is one of dozens of residents who successfully spoke out against the speed of the closure, getting it pushed back. The cityPérez has been looking for a place of her own. She says Salvation Army case managers haven't offered a lot of help, and she's even heard of people being"harassed" to leave ahead of the closure.
"We have been feeling the ripple effects of how this treatment — or mistreatment — of our neighbors is affecting them," she said."One of my clients believes that they're using these tactics because they spoke out against Salvation Army." Courtney Santana has been doing that work for more than a decade. Her nonprofit, Survive 2 Thrive, finds vacant hotel rooms and gives temporary shelter to people fleeing domestic and family violence.
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