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The city is gearing up to build a new, $44 million animal shelter to replace its aging facilities in Greater Fifth Ward, and a new satellite in west Houston could serve as an alternative adoption location.
Earlier this month, the city published an advertisement seeking firms willing to design and build a new shelter. Drawing on bond funds approved by voters, the city hopes to open new facilities capable of housing 27,000 animals a year by 2027.
The new shelter will sit on the same property as the existing Carr Street campus, according to the agency. Pending an “operations analysis,” BARC also could open a second location 17 miles to the west at a wooded site between Westheimer Road and Buffalo Bayou.
Word that the city is moving forward with a new shelter was cheered by animal welfare advocates, who say the existing structure often is at capacity and who long have sought for the city to have more than one adoption spot.
A BARC spokesperson noted Houston has a new mayor who has yet to evaluate the shelter plans and said the possibility of a satellite location will depend on funding.
“Any discussions around the construction of the new shelter are very preliminary as our new administration will need an opportunity to review options,” said Cory Stottlemyer, BARC’s deputy shelter director.
On the campaign trail last year, Whitmire spoke of the urgent need for overhauling BARC, calling it a “broken system.”
Need for shelter
City leaders and animal advocates agree on the pressing need for new facilities. Some staffers have worked out of a temporary, modular building for years, while some dogs are housed inside a distinctive, 1980s-vintage dome building that is past its prime.
“Going to BARC is not a great experience,” said Tena Lundquist Faust, co-president of the nonprofit Houston PetSet. “They do have a new adoption space, which is absolutely beautiful, but it just doesn’t have the capacity that is needed.”
BARC’s kennels were calm Wednesday. Arlyle, a one-year-old brown-and-white Labrador Retriever who was picked up as a stray, waited longingly for someone to take him home. In the next kennel over. Dime, a shy, brindle-colored Staffordshire mix, was stretching out on her side.
The limits of the existing shelter are readily apparent in Facebook posts from its director, Jarrad Mears. Days before Christmas last month, he posted a picture of dogs housed in temporary crates inside the dome.
“Good morning everyone. I just wanted to pass along the message that BARC is completely overflowing with dogs. We have had to resort to pop-up crates,” he posted. “This is not a sustainable practice. If you know of anyone looking for a pet, please send them our way.”
A last-minute surge in adoptions led to many of those animals finding homes. All too often, BARC is faced with a lack of space, Mears said Wednesday.
The city is trying to boost its enforcement efforts, which means more animals coming in through BARC’s doors. At the same time, however, fewer people are adopting. Last year, 83 percent of animals left the shelter through adoption, returning to owner or transfering elsewhere, below the 90 percent live-release rate for a shelter to be considered “no-kill.” In total, the shelter euthanized 2,890 animals, up from 2,284 in 2022.
The city has been working on a response to the capacity issue for years. In 2022, former Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration asked voters to approve a $47 million bond to update BARC’s facilities. Voters overwhelmingly approved the request as part of a larger, $478 million package.
The advertisement for contractors published earlier this month provides a first look at how the city intends to use that money. Stottlemyer stressed the city is far from having detailed site or building plans, however.
Overall, the city wants a shelter with 60,988 square feet, which would be 5,000 more square feet than the capacity of the non-administrative structures on its Greater Fifth Ward campus.
The city intends to place most or all of the new facilities on its current animal control campus. The seven-acre location that could be used as a satellite, at 2515 Old Farm Road near Buffalo Bayou, sits off Westheimer Road between Fondren and Voss roads.
“The current intent is that the existing shelter at 3200 Carr St. will remain operational. A second site, at 2515 Old Farm Road, was identified by the previous administration as a potential site for future construction, but the site has not yet been evaluated for feasibility as a shelter site,” Stottlemyer said.
The construction will leave untouched the relatively new adoption center built during the tenure of former Mayor Annise Parker.
Under its current schedule, the city envisions awarding a contract by this June and wrapping up construction by March 2027. The schedule is subject to change, Stottlemyer said.
Placement raises questions
BARC supporters said they were not aware the city was eying a second location. They welcomed the idea of a satellite, while noting that it quickly could eat up scarce funds.
“Houston is far too big to only have one shelter location run by the city (other large cities have multiple animal control locations), but this would only happen if this is an initiative Mayor Whitmire pushes,” said Steven H. Halpert, a board member of the nonprofit Friends of BARC.
A spiffy new shelter would address only part of the problem, Lundquist Faust said. As new facilities open their doors, it will be imperative for the city to expand enforcement of animal cruelty laws and services, such as spay-and-neuter.
Houston’s per-capita spending on animal control is dwarfed by other big cities in Texas, according to data compiled by city officials. Dallas spends more than twice as much; Austin spends nearly three times as much.
“We’re going to need more funding,” Lundquist Faust said. “We have to get the animals off the streets. That’s the big effort. The problem in Houston isn’t going to be solved in the shelters.”
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