Austin shelter residents say food, heat fell short during winter storm

The Eighth St. Shelter, an emergency shelter for women and transgender clients, on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman

Residents sheltering at Austin’s Eighth Street Women’s Shelter during the winter storm say they were left without adequate food or heat, prompting some residents to post photos online of what they described as meager meals and freezing conditions inside the city-funded facility.

“If anyone out there is willing and able, there's over 100 women here that are going hungry because this is our dinner,” a resident posted Saturday on Reddit, sharing a photo of the meal: a single peanut butter sandwich.

Residents posted on Reddit again Sunday, citing continuing concerns about the shelter’s food.

The complaints center on food quality and heating at the Eighth Street Women’s Shelter, which is operated by Endeavors, a city-contracted nonprofit, and funded with public money. Residents say conditions worsened as the winter storm intensified, while city officials insist the shelters were adequately supplied.

David Gray, the city's homeless strategy officer, acknowledged during a Sunday news conference that staffing challenges on Saturday affected the meal that was served, but that currently “all of our shelters have adequate food supplies.”

Endeavors driver Bryan Rader, left, helps Cecil Strickling board a van outside Central Presbyterian Church to the Marshalling Yard, a city-owned homeless shelter, on Thursday January 11, 2024.
Jay Janner / American-Statesman

“I want to assure that our shelter operators are prepared to provide meals for anybody in our city shelters and everybody who comes to our overnight code weather shelters,” he added.

Still, the Reddit post quickly gained traction online, drawing more than 3,000 upvotes and nearly 500 comments by Monday evening. Residents at the shelter said community members responded by sending more than 20 pizzas, along with salads, wings and soup, directly to the shelter.

When the American-Statesman contacted the city Monday about reports of inadequate heating and food, Austin Emergency Management referred the newspaper to Gray’s Sunday comments.

Eighth Street shelter resident Marcella Cook said Monday that food portions and quality have deteriorated since the winter storm started. The shelter has also lacked adequate heating, she said, calling it “refrigerator cold.”

“Everybody is walking around bundled up because it doesn't seem like the heater is working,” she said, adding that her bed is cold to the touch. “I am literally freezing to death in my room because it's so cold.”

In a statement to the Statesman on Monday, Gray said the city received reports of inadequate heating at one shelter during 24-hour cold weather shelter operations Sunday night.

“Upon investigation, we found that the HVAC was working and capable of heating the site accordingly. Sleeping areas were adequately warmed,” he said. “The complaint centered around the building lobby not being able to maintain a warm temperature, which was due to the lobby doors being opened frequently for circumstances like overnight intakes.”

Endeavors, which operates the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless and the Eighth Street Women’s Shelter, has received more than $8 million from the city as of September, according to documents obtained by the Statesman. The city allocated nearly $2 million of that total for a year’s worth of food and beverage services.

The city contracted with Endeavors in September to take over the ARCH and Eighth Street shelters after the city severed ties with the Bay Area-based nonprofit Urban Alchemy, which city officials said misrepresented data related to when residents were leaving the shelters.