SAN ANTONIO — The City of San Antonio will end funding for the 313-bed low-barrier homeless shelter operated by San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries on October 31, 2024, with no replacement plan in place. The shelter, housed in a Holiday Inn on Cesar Chavez Boulevard since 2023, serves individuals with disabling physical or mental health conditions who have experienced long-term homelessness and does not require sobriety, drug screening, city residency, or a clean criminal record for admission.

San Antonio allocated $4.8 million from its own budget this fiscal year for lease costs, while San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries covered operations. The city previously used pandemic-era federal relief funds to support the shelter, which has served 526 people over its first two budget years, with more than half achieving “positive exits” to permanent housing, family reunification, or medical care.

“I think what we’re working with SAMMinistries and the homeless response system to be able to absorb, at least temporarily, what’s in that location today,” San Antonio Chief Housing Officer Mark Carmona said two weeks ago. However, as of Tuesday, only 106 people remained at the shelter, as staff limit new admissions due to uncertainty over its future.

Nikisha Baker, president and CEO of San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries, said she does not know where the shelter’s beds would be absorbed if city funding ends. “Is it the most responsible thing for us to take in a new client tomorrow that we don’t have a solution for in 90 days, and then they have the potential to be displaced?” Baker said. She added that running 175 shelter units without city or state funding is “not reasonable” and that the organization cannot operate a shelter of the current size without outside support.

San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries is pursuing $7.5 million in non-competitive state funding for a permanent site, with a decision expected by August or September. The shelter does not receive funding from Bexar County.