Two multimillion-dollar contracts for the handling of day-to-day operations of city-owned homeless shelters are slated to be finalized Thursday.

The Austin City Council will vote on contracts for outside service providers to run the Northbridge homeless shelter, currently managed by the city, and the Southbridge shelter, currently managed by the nonprofit Austin Area Urban League.

The city issued the request for proposals in October. More than 650 vendors were solicited, and four proposals were submitted — three for Northbridge and one for Southbridge, according to city documents.

If approved Thursday, starting March 1, the Northbridge shelter would be run by the nonprofit Family Endeavors and the Southbridge shelter would continue to be run by the Austin Area Urban League.

The bridge shelters

Both bridge shelters are former hotels purchased by the city to serve as “COVID-19 Protective Lodge(s)” and were later turned into emergency shelters, according to the city.

The Northbridge shelter, at 7400 N. Interstate 35, has a minimum capacity of 125 people.

Northbridge was subject to a city investigation after a City Council member brought concerns about living conditions to the attention of the interim city manager. Many of the concerns, which were brought forward by a city whistleblower, were disputed in a later city audit.

The item up for vote Thursday would approve a contract with Family Endeavors for no more than about $3.4 million for an initial 13-month term beginning March 1, with four yearlong extension options not to exceed a total of about $17.2 million.

If approved Thursday, Southbridge, at 2711 S. I-35, will continue to be operated by the Austin Area Urban League, which was first selected to run the shelter after the city ended its contracts with the nonprofit Front Steps.

The contract up for vote is for about $4 million for a 13-month term beginning March 1 and also has four yearlong extension options not to exceed about $20 million.

The shelter in South Austin has a minimum capacity of 140 people, according to the city.

How shelter management will be evaluated

The nonprofits selected to run the shelters will be required to submit quarterly performance metrics, according to the city’s scope of work document for the shelter operations, such as the total number of unduplicated clients served per 12-month period.

Both service providers, according to the document, are required to provide services such as case management, coordination of access to medical care and general housing assistance.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Nonprofits tapped to run Austin’s Northbridge, Southbridge shelters