Mayor floats therapeutic housing idea as new Austin State Hospital set to open

The state allocated more than $300 million to reconstruct the hospital. But Watson says the 240 rooms it will create will go fast, and he thinks now is the time for grand ideas about what can go hand in hand with that improved service.

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- For Joy Jiles' son, Miguel, often the only access he has to mental health treatment and housing is the time he spends in jail. And he's done a lot of that.

Jiles said her son suffers from Schizophrenia. And despite her best efforts, Miguel hasn't gotten the professional help he needs. It's led to a lifetime of bouncing in and out of jail and homelessness.

"And it's doing him no justice. So I've advocated, I've tried to talk to different organizations, different people. And nothing is being done," Jiles said.

There are concurrent efforts by Travis County and the City of Austin right now to get people suffering from mental health illnesses more help. While Travis County works through a plan to build a mental health diversion center, which could divert people from jail to resources, a big factor in the city's approach will be the reopening of the updated Austin State Hospital.

"Which is something I worked on in the Texas Senate and helped get funding for. We'll cut the ribbon on that probably in May and people will be in that hospital right after that," Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said.

The state allocated more than $300 million to reconstruct the hospital, but Watson said the 240 rooms it will create will go fast. He thinks now is the time for grand ideas about what can go hand in hand with that improved service.

He's got one: Creating therapeutic housing to serve the people moving in and out of that facility.

It could be an option for people who have nowhere else to go, but aren't quite ready for a full hospitalization. And for patients transitioning out of care who are experiencing homelessness, a possible lifeline.

"What that will do is not only better stabilize people that are addressing a brain health issue that are living on the street homeless, but what it will also do is it will create even more beds at the state hospital," he said.

As for right now, it's just an idea. Watson hopes there will be plenty more before the state hospital ribbon cutting this Spring.

"We're looking at different ways that we might could do that and how we would afford that -- and some of that might very well be some money that the state has already allocated to the city -- but wait and see, it's very much in the infancy," he said.

Jiles hopes those resources come online sooner rather than later, so that families like hers have somewhere to turn for longer-lasting help.

"I just feel like a lot needs to be done, and it hasn't been done. And I don't know if it ever will be."