Brittany Kelley
SAN MARCOS — Southside Community Center has been aiding the residents of Hays County for nearly a century. As financial strain continues for many, the nonprofit has created a Housing Stability Program to support its community.
According to Jessica Cain, director of neighborhood engagement, Southside began in 1927 with the idea of serving the needs of those directly in the neighborhood. It provided help with “household education,” she said, such as how to run a household, childcare, early childhood education and more.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, its service continued to help those in need by expanding to include all of Hays County, specifically those living in poverty and the unhoused community, said Cain. Since then, this group has become its focus. Southside provides dinner each day at 4 p.m., breakfast six days a week, laundry, a mail service, lockers, an affordable independent senior living community and more.
Beyond these daily services, Southside has worked the past two years to create the Housing Stability Program, as the need has increased.
“We’ve been doing emergency assistance [funding] for almost a decade, but the actual creation of the Housing Stability Program happened over the last couple of years, thanks to passage of [The American Rescue Plan Act] funding that the city of San Marcos gave to Southside,” explained Cain. “The goal of that funding was to have a strategic plan around addressing the issue of homelessness in San Marcos specifically, [but] we obviously work in all of Hays County, so there’s been a little bit of work in both of those areas.”
The program is divided into three areas, with the first being the Emergency Assistance Program, which has been established for years, but is the lowest intervention done, said the director. It is a one-time payment, up to $500, to put toward rent or utilities.
The next “level” up is the Eviction Prevention Program. Cain explained that this is for individuals or families that either have a Notice to Vacate or an Eviction Notice. This is, again, financial support up to $2,1000.
Both of these opportunities are capped to allow as many as possible to benefit from the service.
“This program is the more recently developed one and it developed because what we were seeing was that not only we here at Southside, but the community at large has a pretty good set of Emergency Assistance Programs and then, we have some programs for folks who are experiencing homelessness. But there was this gap in between, where people had a bit of a larger bill that needed to be taken care of that didn’t fall into [EAP],” said Cain. “So, Eviction Prevention is financial support and case management support for one to three months, depending on what the individual needs at that time.
We not only provide that payment, but we also help with: How did we get into this situation? How can we prevent it from happening in the future?”
This category has mainly been individuals who have found themselves behind on rent due to a medical emergency, loss of job, family death, etc.
“We live in a community where a lot of folks are renting and being a renter can be a very precarious situation, if you find yourself with just one [financial emergency] that happens in your life … Those things can really derail a whole family’s stability. So, we’re really passionate about making sure that people are able to stay in housing when they already have stable housing because the reality is that once someone is forced to move, whether because they can’t afford the place anymore because they’ve been evicted, then that makes it more difficult to find comparable housing,” she said.
For those who are unhoused, there is the Transitional Housing Program, which aims to move them into stable, permanent housing.
These individuals or families stay in Southside’s onsite shelter for 60 days, where they receive intense, weekly case management from the center, the director shared, as well as from the Blanco Regional River Recovery Team (BR3T) that does housing navigation with them.
Although there are no income restrictions, those looking to utilize the services must fill out an application. This will let staff determine which program is best for the situation.
The reaction to these programs, both from the community and municipal leadership has been positive, said Cain. The usage of their services has also been increasing, as in 2025, more than 600 individuals were served. The specifics of each service includes: 266 units — individuals and families — for EAP, 49 units for Eviction Prevention and 35 units in Transitional Housing.
In 2026, there has already been 43 units for Eviction Prevention, 143 units for EAP and 12 units for Transitional Housing.
Cain explained that the recent $125,000 funding received from the Hays County Commissioners Court will help Southside with this growing number of cases.
The nonprofit is also looking at other sources to find stable funding, which will allow their services to grow. For example, with the Transitional Housing Program, Cain shared that they would like to be able to pay for the first month’s rent, since BR3T pays the deposit on the rental that they find for those in the shelter. This would allow more time for individuals in this program to find jobs or save money.
Similarly, Southside would like to increase the number of families and individuals served through EAP and Eviction Prevention.
To learn more information about Southside Community Center and these programs, visit www.southsidecommunitycenter.org.
