On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho San Antonio is a fast growing, fast moving community with something new happening every day.

And that's why each week we go on the record with the newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the Reporters Roundtable to talk about the latest news stories with the journalists behind those stories.

Join us now as we go on the right.

Hello and welcome to Killer Ends on the Record.

I'm Joy Palacios of Texas Public Radio in San Antonio, and I'll be your guest host for today's show, filling in for Randy Beamer, our first discussion today, homelessness in San Antonio.

Early this year, the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless, also known as Sara, conducted its annual point in time count.

It's a massive project that takes months to set up, but it's conducted on a single night in January to count the number of people experiencing homelessness.

And now we have the results of the 2023 count.

Joining us is Katie Vella, executive director of Sara.

Katy, thanks for joining us on On the Record today.

Thanks.

Excited to be here.

So let's get right into it.

So let's talk about Sara and what Sara does.

It's the continuum of care for area.

It's not necessarily a shelter or shelter for people who are unhoused.

What role does Sara play in the community?

Sure.

So we don't provide any direct service.

We're really there to be the lead agency for San Antonio in Bear County to coordinate our homeless response.

And so we make sure that people are working together, that we make policy changes as a homeless response system to better address homelessness and bring resources and apply for HUD funding for the community.

Now, going into this year's data, there were 3155 people that were counted on that night in January.

That's a 5% increase over 2022.

So let's before we break some of that down, what do you think led to the increase in the number of people counted, experiencing homelessness?

Well, first of all, our population across San Antonio is increasing.

So if you look at homelessness as a percentage of the overall community, it's pretty close to being flat to previous years.

We had some really great results from the work over the last year, but I think ultimately we're seeing that more people are in our emergency shelters, especially families who are still struggling with housing costs, fallout from the pandemic.

And now that there are fewer resources for eviction prevention, the moratorium on evictions has ended.

And we believe that's really driving the increase for this year.

And there's two different counts that you all do.

There's the sheltered count and the unsheltered count.

Tell me about the difference between those two.

Sure.

So on that single night in January, we're doing a count of all of our emergency shelters and we're deploying volunteers out into the community to count our unsheltered.

And so for that part of the count, we're conducting a survey, getting demographic information, handing out resource kits and learning about the needs of people that are unsheltered.

So that total number is the result of both shelters and our unsheltered.

Now, from what I understand, even though it was a 5% increase, you know, in 2022, we saw just under 3000 people that were counted.

But what we did see is a 16% decrease in the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

Can you help us break that down?

What does that number mean?

Sure.

So we've really expanded as a community, our street outreach response and really focused on permanent supportive housing options, which is really what we need for those more severe conditions that we see with people that are unsheltered.

And so we believe through that coordinated effort, we're seeing the results.

The community might find it surprising, just because I think unsheltered homelessness is still top of mind.

And part of that is because the conditions have worsened for people who have been on the street throughout the pandemic and for those long periods of time.

And so it can make it more difficult to engage.

But ultimately, we believe that with the right housing and supportive services to help people overcome those conditions and trauma, we can see even more significant decreases in the future.

You mentioned some of that progress.

I remember last year the city of San Antonio had announced that it had exceeded the goal of housing support that it was trying to do.

You're able to talk a little about that.

Sure.

So we were part of a national initiative called House America and set a goal as a community to rehouse 1500 people in a period of about 18 months.

And we were actually the first community in the nation to meet our goal and exceeded that timeframe.

We ended up meeting the goal about four months early.

So we've got this great response system.

It's really well coordinated.

Everyone works together.

We just need the resources that are appropriate to to see more results.

And another concern of ours is we need the community's support in developing affordable housing options and permanent supportive housing options throughout the city that have access to food and transportation and things that are going to make people successful.

And ultimately, you won't see those issues in your neighborhood where those issues are unaddressed for people if they're housed with the right supports.

We've seen people really thrive.

We see people, veterans experiencing homelessness.

But in this in this count this year, I understand that the number of people that were counted who are veterans is actually fewer.

Is that correct?

Yes.

So it's the lowest veteran number for unsheltered that we've seen.

We had a big initiative starting in 2016.

It was the mayor's challenge to end veteran homelessness.

And we set up systems where we actually have all of our veteran partners meet every two weeks to look at a by name list of every veteran we've identified in the community who's experiencing homelessness and quickly connect them to housing and shelter.

That model can be taken to scale.

But with veterans, we have additional resources like VASH, vouchers, VA medical care that we can connect people to.

It's harder to translate that to, for example, people with severe mental health and those other challenges that may not have an identified resource lined up that we can connect them to.

Now, earlier we had mentioned that this was a massive undertaking in organizing the town.

It's not just, you know, a few people going out.

It's like hundreds of volunteers.

Back in January, I joined one of the crews that was going out to do some of that counting.

What does it take to put an organization together?

Like how many months?

I know it's got to be just a lot of work to make it happen.

It really is.

We start about four or five months out from the event and then some of it we have to do right before the event.

So for example, we meet with our street outreach teams to identify known locations so we can create maps and make sure volunteers are able to locate people.

We make sure that all of our teams have a trained team lead.

And so it's a good experience for both volunteers and for people who are unsheltered, how they're approach to how the survey is conducted.

And then we also coordinate with Bear County sheriffs and CPD to make sure there's someone available in each zone should that be necessary.

But we've had very safe, great counts over the years, but we're really grateful for that additional support.

It really is the whole community coming together to make it, to make it work and make it successful.

And speaking of whole communities account of the whole county, it's not just downtown.

It's not just like certain areas.

I mean, it's the whole county.

Exactly.

Yeah, exactly.

So we're going out into those areas outside of the city limits because it includes all of Bear County.

So you have this data now what what's it done to put it to work and what type of impact does it have?

So it is a one night snapshot.

And so it's not telling the story of the whole year, but it is really useful to see emerging trends, demographic changes, things like that that can help us along with our partners, plan on how we allocate resources, how we allocate funding, and then we also share it with the city and county and other funders because there are multiple agencies that work and funding the homeless response.

And so we all want to be aligned around our strategies and priorities.

So this is a really useful tool for our annual planning.

So if there are people or organizations that want to help out with a 2024 count, how can they get involved?

They can start checking our website and we'll have our volunteer registration available there.

They can also join our newsletter.

We send out monthly updates of funding opportunities, news stories, things that are going on with the response system, and that's also how we'll alert volunteers that it's time to register.

Okay.

Katie Vela, executive director of the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless.

Katie, thanks for joining us.

Thank you.

There's about to be a new mayor in town for the city of Bernie that has a population of about 20,000 people.

And joining me is the man who was just elected during the May 6th election.

We are joined by Mayor elect Frank Ritchie.

Mayor, thank you so much for coming with us today.

Thank you.

My pleasure to be here.

So in a few days, you're going to be installed as mayor of the city of Bernie.

Let me ask you, why did you decide to run for the position?

So, I mean, that's a really good question.

You know, I've been part of Bernie for almost 25 years, and my wife graduated there and grew up there.

And it's a wonderful community and I love it.

And just having conversations with a lot of my customers and the direction and the growth that Bernie is having, we're losing that small town, that community feel, that community vibe that that I wanted my kids raised in.

And now that I have a four month old granddaughter and my my son and his wife are saying, and Bernie, I want to make sure that they have that same type of environment to raise money raising.

And so, you know, I just thought if people want to make a difference and make a change, we have to stand up and and put yourself out there.

And so that's kind of what I did.

So now you're the owner of Herman Richie Automotive.

How long have you own that business?

15 years.

Okay.

That's a long time.

So you've been a pretty big staple in and Bernie for a while, then?

Yes, sir.

So.

And not only are you a mechanic by trade, you're also, I understand, a soccer coach and also a pastor, too.

Correct.

It's a lot to have under your belt.

And now you're going to be mayor as well.

So tell me some of the things that you really want to do over your next two year term.

What are some of things you really want to focus on as the mayor of Bernie?

So for me, my main focus is the community of Bernie, not just this idea of the city of Bernie.

Bernie is different.

And when I say different, it's in a way that it's more community vibe than it is a city vibe.

Like, I will never consider Bernie a city.

For me, it's it's a town.

It's the people.

It's the place where you go to live, raise your kids.

You know, it's less hectic as, say, San Antonio in the city, it's more laid back.

And so for me, it's about bringing that community, that sense of community, sense of neighbor back that we've kind of lost through this growth where, you know, if you remember the old TV shows, cheers where everybody knows your name.

I mean, that's how Bernie used to be.

And that's a lofty goal to think about.

But I think we need to pump the brakes on all this expansive growth and and work on our infrastructure for the city.

I mean, we can Bernie's going to continue to grow.

That's inevitable.

And change is inevitable.

But how we grow and then the manner and the speed that we grow, I think is very important to the community sense and the community by.

And so I want I want to make sure that we don't lose our identity as who we are as the town of Bernie.

So there's a lot to unpack there.

Let's talk about the growth that you seen.

You lose.

You said you lived in Bernie for about 25 years.

Back in 2010, there were about 10,000 people that lived in Bernie, but in 2021 that grew to 19,000.

So, yes, it's not very often you see a city double in size in just a ten year period.

And so you've talked a little bit about, you know, how that sense of community has kind of changed.

What do you want to do to try to preserve that sense of community without stifling the growth that like cities grow and become and for to be more prosperous?

Right.

So, oh, that's a great question.

Right?

Because that's a hard, hard question to answer.

In reality, I think one is leadership starts at the top, right?

And so if we as the council in the city direct the growth and in a manner that makes sense, I mean, Bernie has to look at his infrastructure first.

I mean, we need to work on our infrastructure, get our roadways that are in the city limits and in the town taking care of to where we can handle the growth that we've already had.

But also the growth is probably going to come.

You know, we we as a city can't control what happens outside the city, you know, 46 and I-10 and that kind of stuff.

Businesses and and people are going to come and they're going to build and they want to be part of Bernie.

And that's great.

We want we want people to be part of our wonderful community.

But how we grow, I think we need to be more intentional.

And in the rate in this been the pace without getting our infrastructure and also without focusing our water conservation, more water reclamation, I mean, those are things that need to be a high priority for us.

And they have been, you know, the last several mayors have worked on that.

And it's always a priority to make sure that that we're being good stewards of the water resources, not just in the city, but also for our brothers and sisters that live outside the city limits that are on wells.

And so I think working with Council on Planning and Zoning and the development communities, I'm I think we can put our heads together and find a growth and a process that's acceptable for everybody, but also does serves serve as Bernie well.

So we know what the city of San Antonio we saw, you know, some attempts and even some annexation that the city was looking at.

Do you see the city of Bernie kind of doing and accepting some of the unincorporated areas or things that may or areas that may be within its extraterritorial jurisdiction to kind of help control the way that growth is happening?

I would I'd like to say no.

I think that the city does a really good job of of looking at what's coming in and and and what we can do, what we can do.

As for annexation and that type of stuff, you know, Arthur will look into that as well as what we can and cannot annex and stuff because there's a lot of legislation there that then entails when you start the annexation.

And so I don't see that as a forefront of how Bernie's going to grow and how to control it.

But we really need to look at opportunities are when parcels of land and stuff like that come up for sale.

What can the city do to to maybe purchase that land and turn it into parks and conservation and rec areas for the community as it continues to expand, We're going to need more of those areas for, you know, the city of Bernie.

I mean, I've been the burning rec soccer coach for for 20 years and there was 500 kids in the program when it first started.

And now there's several thousand, you know, And so we need more parks, we need more recs, we need more family activities, centers in the areas.

And Bernie and so that's one way whether or not not say annexation, but through through the development of those land parcels that come up for sale that we might be able to purchase and turn them into city property.

So I understand that you did no campaigning, no fundraising, but you beat somebody who had been on the City council for several years.

I think quicker, I think almost a decade.

And you won by 76% of the vote without doing the campaigning.

I understand there was a large community effort to get you elected.

Tell us about that.

So when I when I put my name in the ring, I put my name on the ballot and said, I'm gonna run for the city of Bernie.

I wanted to make sure that I'm not beholden to anybody or any group except for the city or the town of Bernie, you know, the community.

And that's what I ran on.

And I said, I'm not going to not going to raise funds.

I'm not going to I'm not going to take donations.

You know, if the city wants something different and we want to move in a different direction, then as constituents of that community of the town.

And Bernie, do your due diligence, do your research, Listen to the debates, and then, you know, if you like what I have to say, then vote for me.

But I want the community that to speak and not me.

You.

There are lots of times people just look in and go, okay, well, I saw so-and-so and it was kind of one of the thing.

People were like, Well, he has no signs.

And, you know, there's no no political ads for him.

And like, well, he's not really campaigning that way.

We're like, well, if he doesn't have signs and want to vote for him.

And my response to that is, if you vote because you saw a sign with someone's name on it, you probably need to do your due diligence and realize that you have a much greater civil responsibility as a voter.

You know?

And so there's the community got behind that and the community had signs made and the community spent their own money, their own resources to put my name out there.

And it worked.

So what would you like to tell voters over the next two years that they you know, a lot of a lot of you don't consider yourself a politician, but, you know, a lot of politicians will, you know, will they want to make sure that, you know, they're earning or keeping their voters trust?

What do you plan on do to to do to get to keep it, earn voter trust.

Be 100% transparent?

You know, you made the statement, Joe, that I'm not a politician.

That's correct.

You know, I'm not.

Yeah, but I am a public servant.

When I take this role as the mayor of Bernie, I become a servant, a public servant more than I am as a as a pastor.

And so as that as that servant leader of Bernie, I'm going to serve the people.

And so I may not have the answers.

I don't have all the answers, but I'll be the first person to tell you.

I don't know.

But let me let me look into that and I will come back with the answers that you need or do the best that I can to resolve those situations.

You know, obviously, I'm a very busy man, so I'm not afraid of hard work, you know, So I'm willing to put those hours in for the community, Bernie, and for the people in the citizens of Bernie.

And so for me, it's about just being transparent as a city government and what's what's coming up in the forefront, what we can do and what we can't do.

So Frank Richie is the incoming mayor elect of the City of Bernie.

Mayor, thank you so much for being with us today.

I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

And now for our Reporters roundtable.

We're all familiar with the concept of the stock market, where you buy and sell and trade portions of companies.

But have you ever heard of the water market?

Well, the Nature Conservancy of Texas says that water markets are going to be essential to preventing and improving upon water scarcity in the state.

And the Edwards Aquifer is a prime example of a water market.

Here to tell us more about that is the San Antonio Reports environment reporter Lindsey Cornett.

Lindsey, thanks for joining us on the record today.

JERRY Thanks for having me.

Excited to be here.

Let's go first into what exactly is a water market.

Yeah, that's a great question.

So basically a water market is a free market, just like any market where buyers and sellers can go to buy and sell water and water rights.

So in Texas, we have this interesting law called the rule of capture.

Basically, if you have a well on your property, any water that comes up out of it is your water.

So you can exchange water rights in Texas to say, okay, I won't draw water from this aquifer that you and I share, or I will, and I'll do it under a permit so that we can both agree on how much I take.

So it's a very interesting law and a rule in Texas that's not around the nation.

Right.

It comes from Spanish times, actually, but it's been around for a long time.

And that's basically what a water market is.

And the reason they're going to be really important in the future of Texas is because by 2070, if we have another major drought, which we're expected to right, because of climate change, then we are likely to face serious water scarcity issues.

And within those water scarcity issues, we're going to see an economic impact of $154 billion by 2070.

So it's really important that we get these markets trading so that and bolster it so that we get even more water access to different areas that need it.

Another part of this story that I found really interesting was that water demand in Texas is shifting.

So right now it's actually always been irrigators or farmers that take the majority of water in our state and that makes sense, right?

We're a very agricultural state, we're very rural.

But because of the exploding population in Texas, we're expecting to see a shift by 2060 to municipal utilities being be demanding of water more than than rural areas.

And so to get ready for that shift, these water markets will be very important to that as these cities get more water rights to help diversify their portfolio.

So justice is done right.

They've used to be only Edwards Aquifer Water, and that was up until, you know, 50 years ago.

And then they started diversifying.

And now we know of, you know, the different projects of storage, desalination, all of the different projects.

So that's going to be very important in the future.

So the Nature Conservancy says that expanding and bolstering these water markets is really going to depend on state legislation.

And if that isn't done, we could see these water shortages.

But it feels like from what you're telling me, that some of these cities are being a bit more proactive because we see, as you mentioned, the San Antonio water system with the Vista Ridge project and things like that.

So what are some of the things that you are seeing that utilities or maybe even farmers or different water owners are doing to kind of bolster their access to it?

So the good news is we actually have a very active series of water markets in Texas.

But this report really focuses on growing those because that will become really important in the next 50 years.

So they point to some examples of water markets we already have here in Texas, one of those being the Texas Water Bank, and within that, the Texas Water Trust.

And both of those are basically they work just like normal banks, right?

You go in and you exchange water and water rights through this agency.

That kind of helps you do it the correct way or, you know, under a legal system that makes sense.

But the other ways that that will be helpful in the future is that we're going to help bolster the environmental trusts and environmental exchanges as well.

So San Antonio source has been very proactive with it, but other municipal utilities maybe have not.

We have the benefit of having somebody like Robert Quint in San Antonio who has pushed for a lot of legislative success here and pulled for that.

And we've also had the Edwards Aquifer Authority established due to a lawsuit that actually happened back in the nineties that established the trust that we use here in San Antonio for our water rights.

Right?

So the Edwards is our big water bank here that we all are used to and depend on, and that is been just really important over the last 20, 30 years.

People have realized how important and how unique it is.

So seeing size, you know, diversify their portfolio, that is a great example of what other utilities should be doing around Texas.

And the reason I say that is because different areas recharge at different rates.

Right?

So we've had a lot of rain this week in San Antonio, which is great.

That's great for our aquifer.

But in times that we're in drought and it's really low, other parts of the state maybe getting rain where we're not and being able to access that water will be very important in the future.

Throughout this legislative session.

You know, of course, we see bills coming in and out and we're a few just a couple of weeks away from sine die.

What are some of the pieces of legislation that the state is putting through or the legislature is putting through to kind of bolster some of these rights or kind of expand access?

So what's interesting is this report really goes into aspects that the legislation can work on, perhaps next session, because right now they're working on water infrastructure in Texas.

So I'm sure you've heard of the bill that's going through the House and the Senate right now that's going to allocate 1 to $3 billion to Texas water infrastructure.

And the reason that's really important is because Texas water infrastructure, 70% of it is past its age of use, and we're still using it, which is really scary.

In San Antonio, we're blessed to actually have a very strong infrastructure where that's not really an issue, but around the rest of the state, they're really suffering with bad infrastructure and leaks and losing water through that.

So the legislation session right now, they're focused on just getting money towards fixing our infrastructure.

We don't have a water grant like a lot of other states.

And so it really comes down to these individual areas to bolster up their own infrastructure.

So getting the dollars out to these little cities and the rural areas that will be really important over the next 50 years.

But what this report also talks about is the next legislative session and what our legislators can focus on.

It gives a few ideas for bolstering up Texas water markets.

One of the ideas that it has is to allocate more funds to the Texas Water Bank because a lot of trades are not actually done through the Texas Water Bank right now.

And they could be.

That's a tool that a lot of people aren't utilizing.

And you're going to be have the San Antonio ports going to be having a discussion about this later this month.

So we will be having a discussion about water and May 31st at the Heart Burger Ecology Center, and that's going to focus on drought and development in the whole country, which is a very big topic right now.

I also have been reporting on the Guadalupe Otay Track story, and that's been a very big deal with the possible development going in and the Hill country area right above Texas that wants to discharge 1 to 4 million gallons of effluent and a two hour frame or per day to hello this creek, which feeds directly into the Edwards aquifer.

And they're going to it's going to be treated wastewater.

I want to make sure that it's understood, but it's not its may not be treated up to the same standard that we're used to with our Edwards water.

Lindsey Harnett is the environment reporter for the San Antonio Report.

Lindsey, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you.

And thank you for joining us on this edition of On the Record.

You can watch any of our On the Record shows as well as download our podcast at KLRN.org and Joey Palacios of Texas Public Radio in for Randy Beamer.

We'll see you next time.

On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho