Outreach Eligibility

Service Area
We serve City of Austin residents living at an Austin address as well as Travis County residents. We can also help anyone with their Austin Energy/City of Austin bill, regardless of their address.

If you live in any of the following zip codes: 78703, 78705, 78722, 78751, 78756, call the St. Austin St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP) for assistance at 512-477-1589. Leave a message and they will call you back. Outreach does not serve these zip codes.

Services Provided
We can help people who live in the City of Austin or in Travis County with a little bit of rent OR a utility bill, such as water, electricity, or gas (1 bill). We can also help anyone with their Austin Energy/City of Austin bill. Although we have offered other services in the past, we are currently limited to rent and utilities assistance for the foreseeable future. We refer appplicants who are selected in our lottery to additional rent and utility services as well as other services that may be helpful or are requested.

We do NOT help with:

• rent or utility deposits

• hotel or motel bills

• internet or cell phone bills

• finding or securing housing

We do NOT make assistance checks out to individuals, including landlords or the person requesting assistance. Landlords/apartment complexes must accept a business check that is mailed directly from the program. We are unable to make electronic payments or provide rental assistance via money order or cashier's check. Assistance checks are mailed via USPS and Outreach makes no guarantees about checks arriving or arriving on time. Please apply as early as possible to have the best chance of being chosen in our lottery and (for those who are chosen in our lottery) for checks to arrive before late fees accrue or the eviction process begins.

Application Process

To be considered for help with your rent OR utility bill, you (or someone on your behalf) must text or email the following information to gethelp@staustin.org (or ayuda@staustin.org for Spanish-speakers):

This information is also accepted via mail, although email is preferred. Please note that Outreach has no control over when mail arrives and that mailed applications cannot be processed until they are received. Mailed applications must include a phone number.


Reapplying for Assistance

If you have been helped by St. Austin Outreach in the past, we can help with a little bit of rent OR 1 utility bill if you have not been helped in the past 6 months AND you are chosen in our lottery. Assistance is determined by household, so if your spouse/partner, roommate, or another adult who lives with you has received assistance from us in the past 6 months, you and they are not eligible for assistance until the 6 months have passed. The only exceptions are sober living facilities or housing arrangements where residents have separate leases.