Southside Community Center tells San Marcos council ARPA investment prevented 81 evictions, served 100 families

Southside Community Center told the San Marcos City Council on April 21 that a city‑directed American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) investment of $850,000 helped build a housing‑stability program that shifted away from rapid rehousing and toward eviction prevention and a cohort‑based transitional housing model.

"Y'all have given us $850,000 so we wanted to make sure we talked about all of that," Jessica Cain, Southside's director of neighborhood engagement, told the council as she summarized the project's phases and results.

Cain and other Southside leaders described a two‑phase approach. Phase 1 (April 2024–May 2025) focused on rapid rehousing and spent $411,537 to serve 38 families; Southside said rapid rehousing proved costly and unsustainable locally. The organization pivoted in April 2025 to Phase 2: eviction prevention and cohort transitional housing. Phase 2 spending as of March 31 was $394,182 and had served about 100 families in San Marcos.

Southside reported program outcomes and costs: the eviction prevention program (started July) has prevented 81 evictions and cost about $2,100 per family in direct prevention expenditures, while the transitional cohort model costs roughly $600 per client unit. By contrast, Southside said direct payments under the earlier rapid‑rehousing pilot averaged about $6,000 per client and the total cost per client approached $18,000.

"We have prevented 81 evictions since July," Cain said, and presenters added that nearly all participants in eviction prevention remained housed following three months of case management.

Southside credited partnerships — including banking, workforce providers, health partners and the Texas Homeless Network — with expanding client supports, and said ARPA funds enabled renovations to remedy deferred maintenance at the local shelter.

The presenters said ARPA funding will be exhausted in the next few weeks but that they expect program continuity through early 2027 through a mix of county funds, foundation support and grant applications. "We are fairly solid with these programs through 2027," Cain told the council, while noting the organization will continue applying for city, county and foundation grants.

Council members asked about workforce supports and a shared database. Neha Campos, Southside housing program manager, said Workforce Solutions provides resume and interview training as part of an in‑house curriculum and that the coalition is working to get more partners onto HMIS to improve referrals and coordinated entry.

Southside also announced a community health fair on June 24 as part of ongoing outreach. The council took no binding funding action at the meeting but praised Southside’s data tracking and program pivot.