Austin community comes together to end veteran homelessness, offer support
programs
By Steffanie Agnew
The Austin community came together in support of veterans and the hardships they face
at the city’s Commission on Veterans Affairs meeting on Wednesday.
The top priority item for the commission was helping homeless veterans in Austin.
Allen Bergeron, veterans program manager for Austin, estimated that there were about
200 to 300 homeless veterans in and around the city.
He is working with Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell on the Mayors Challenge to End
Veteran Homelessness, which was a challenge that the White House to mayors and other
state and local leaders across the nation.
Bergeron said that Leffingwell planned to attack the issue by bringing more awareness to
veteran homelessness.
“The more we know and the more the community will know and the more they can
support it,” he said. “It’s a challenge to the mayor to go out and rally the community. Do
absolutely everything they can with the resources they have to help him on this issue.”
Commission Chair Cassaundra St. John called the issue of homeless vets a black mark on
the country’s history that needed to be reversed.
“We are very blessed to live in the city of Austin, where our mayor has absolutely with
no hesitation said that Austin will participate in this challenge to end homelessness,” St.
John said.
Bergeron said that the mayor will hold a press conference in a couple of weeks where he
will officially sign the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness.
Bergeron also said that Leffingwell wants veteran homelessness to be ended in Austin by
2015.
In addition to supporting homeless vets, other projects to help veterans were also
discussed at the meeting.
Bergeron said that veterans can buy a Veterans Card with Capital Metro that they can get
at a discount. This would allow active and reserve military personnel to ride the bus at a
reduced rate.
“To get free for all veterans bus passes is a stretch, but right now active duty military in
uniform, they approved them to be free, as well as first responders in uniform,” Bergeron
said.
Marya Crigler, the chief appraiser for Travis Central Appraisal District, also spoke about
veteran property tax exemptions for disabled veterans in Travis County.
Crigler said that there were three exemptions: an exemption for any kind of property
based on percent disability, which varies between $5000 and $12,000 and can be applied
to any property a veteran owns; a 100 percent exemption for disabled vets who have a
service-connected disability of 100 percent; and an exemption for donated property by a
charitable organization for disabled vets with a disability of less than 100 percent, which
would entitle them to an exemption based on the percent of their disability.
Commission Vice President—Phillip Gutierres—expressed concern about the $12,000
limit on the first exemption. He felt that amount wasn’t enough.
“If you want any changes it’s a good time now to start lobbying the legislature,” Crigler
said.
In addition to the government projects, community members also attended the meeting
and spoke about their projects to help Austin veterans.
Ruben Olguin is an Army veteran and owner of the BAM Academy. BAM is an acronym
for Ballistics and Movement. He said that his North Austin gym offers veterans
alternative therapy and a place to stay fit.
“I just want to connect with the veteran community here, and let them know I have a
place that they can train,” Olguin said.
The training is hardcore, obstacle movement, Olguin said. Various programs are offered
for parkour, ballistic movements, basic movements, core training and joint stability.
Olguin also said that he was working with an ex-football player to develop a program for
disabled veterans to use rubber band suspensions, so that people with missing limbs could
fully train as well.
Reveille Peak Ranch’s Public Relations Director Ashley Kamrath also attended the
meeting and discussed an upcoming event, the Reveille Call, which aims to connect
veterans to their community.
The event has two parts: an 11-mile noncompetitive march to honor those who have
served; and Traditional Games, where 110 member teams, made up of five veterans or
law enforcement officials and five civilians, compete in an obstacle course and 5K run.
Kamrath said, “Our hope, and I mean that for Reveille Call, is that we can not only call
the veterans together but also call the community that they’re living in to come in and
truly support and not just say, ‘Here, okay, I’ll write a check $25’ and hand it to a nonprofit, but to come out and get to know our veterans.”