City News

City Council approves purchase of North Austin hotel to house homeless

Austin has purchased its fourth hotel to house those dealing with homelessness.

Photo courtesy of Society of Architectural Historians

KVUE — The Austin City Council voted Thursday to approve the purchase of the Candlewood Suites hotel to house the homeless.

The hotel will cost the City $9.5 million. This comes as the city council recently voted to buy the Texas Bungalows Hotel and Suites in North Austin for up to $6.5 million.

The vote to purchase the 83-bedroom hotel was approved by a vote of 10-1, with Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly casting the lone vote against.

"There shouldn't be sides to a conversation about humanity," said Mayor Pro Tem Natasha Harper-Madison. "Austin is a big city now. We've got big problems that require big solutions ... I think we have to unite as the one Austin we claim to be and tackle trouble in every corner of our city."

Mayor Steve Adler said the hotel would not be a shelter, but an apartment complex. Councilmember Ann Kitchen added that services would be included, saying one of the homeless service providers would be behind it.

"This housing saves lives. It will help us get hundreds of people out of tents and into housing," added Councilmember Greg Casar. "We all have to pull together as a city to address homelessness, and that’s why we’ve purchased hotels in four districts now, including my own. These hotels will not only be homes for people, but will also provide services like job aid, health care, mental health resources, and more, and it’s only possible because of the transformative budget we passed last year."

---

To read the full story, head to KVUE News.

city-news-roundup

Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

traffic self-driving cars innovation