The Austin City Council has approved the city's purchase and renovation of a hotel that will be converted into a family violence shelter.
"Austin is adding much-needed space for survivors of family violence, doubling the rooms that @SAFEatx has now," Mayor Steve Adler tweeted.
It's the first time in a decade that the city has added a new family violence center, KXAN reported.
The new shelter, which will be operated by the Stop Abuse For Everyone Alliance (SAFE), will add 50 rooms to the organization's current space, the story said.
“We think that this is going to be able to solve sort of what is currently a crisis that’s become worse as a result of COVID,” SAFE's director, Julia Spann, told the station.
Residents at the new shelter will be provided with case management, children’s services and other resources, the story said.
In October, the organization's SAFEline received 2,394 contacts, the highest in the organization’s history, with 80% related to family violence, KXAN reported.
“We must get families and children off of the waiting list and into a safer place in our community," council member Greg Casar, lead sponsor of the proposal to buy the hotel, said in a news release.