The Welcome Center has served 301 families in the past month.

Tuesday, December 05, 2000

The Welcome Center has served 301 families in the past month. Liliana Silvestry was able to help 26 of those families, but what of the others?

Did those 274 families – with all of the tax dollars that would have been added to the community, their children who would’ve attended community schools, their patronage to area businesses and restaurants – leave the community all together?

Obviously something needs to be done to address the housing shortage in Austin.

Kermit Mahan’s suggestion of helping new families out with rent and operational expenses is a sound idea. It will help new families to afford the homes and apartments that are available in Austin.

But the work cannot end with financial help. Housing for families and single people needs to be created within the community.

Apex, with its new faces on staff, seems to be up to meeting the challenge of working with other community members and organizations in order to provide housing for the hundreds of families that come to Austin each year.