The Fort Worth city council voted unanimously Tuesday to allocate an additional $5 million to end chronic homelessness.

This allocation is part of a $20.3 million investment by the city to build 165 units of permanent supportive housing. The funds come from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) passed by Congress in February 2021.

The units will be targeted at residents experiencing chronic homelessness, meaning they’ve been without shelter for more than a year and struggle with some form of disability.

The funding gives Fort Worth the opportunity to make generational change for how the city cares for residents experiencing homelessness, District 9 council member Elizabeth Beck said.

Beck has been a major proponent using ARPA funding to combat chronic homelessness in Fort Worth. She’d been critical of an earlier proposal to use some of the funding for upgrades to the new city hall.

“They say the greatness of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable, and tonight our city will show its greatness,” Beck said.

Beck and Robyn Michalove, an advocate and associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church, pointed to the success of complexes like Casa de Esperanza, which helped 119 residents experiencing homelessness get back on their feet in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michalove praised the city for its investment, but pushed leaders to go further while calling on city leaders to approve an additional $19 million investment to build “deeply affordable housing.” These are units with fixed affordable rent prices aimed at keeping families going through financial hardship from ending up on the street.

The Tarrant County Homeless Coalition put out a slide deck in January calling on Fort Worth, Arlington and Tarrant County to build 250 of these deeply affordable units. The total cost split between all three would be roughly $31 million.

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker acknowledged Michalove’s call, saying a lack of stable housing has a negative impact on childhood education outcomes.

Investing in deeply affordable housing is a valid endeavor, said Parker. She pledged to work with Tarrant County to get the needed funding.