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Residents and Southside leaders urge Hays County to fund housing‑stability program before ARPA money runs out
Summary
Speakers from Southside Community Center told the court their housing‑stability program — credited with preventing homelessness — will lose ARPA funding in April; they requested the county add an item and find modest local support (staff said Southside currently receives $25,000/year).
Multiple speakers representing the Southside Community Center asked Hays County's Commissioner's Court to add county funding to sustain a housing‑stability program that administrators say prevents homelessness. Southside leaders told the court the center began as a Mexican social center and now serves residents across Hays County.
Deborah Giles Webster, secretary of Southside's board, said the program was created in response to rising housing affordability and homelessness and that current ARPA funding supporting the work ends in April 2026. She asked the court to consider county support to continue services.
Claude Churchwell, Southside treasurer, said the organization has documented successes in preventing homelessness and urged a county partnership. Todd Salmi, board president, told the court Hays County’s $248 million operational budget currently provides just $25,000 a year to Southside and asked commissioners to find “one tenth of one‑percent” (his phrasing) or otherwise bring an agenda item within a month so the center can serve more than 400 families in the coming year.
Commissioners responded with praise and asked staff to consider options; no formal funding motion was recorded on the floor during the meeting. Commissioners and staff praised the organization’s disaster‑response partnerships — citing joint work during floods and freezes — and asked staff to follow up so the court can consider a formal agenda item.
Quotes: "This program exists because the city of San Marcos hired an outside consultant...this consultant identifies Southside as the key organization to stopping the growth of homelessness in the city and the county," Deborah Giles Webster said. "Hays County has a $248,000,000 operational budget. And out of that, Southside only receives $25,000 a year from Hays County," Todd Salmi said, urging the court to act before ARPA funds end in April.
Next steps: Southside requested a county agenda item within a month to consider local support; commissioners asked staff to follow up and return options to court.
