Scott Mata (MSSW ’23) is soft-spoken but earnest. When you sit down to talk with him, you get the sense he truly hears and sees you.
Mata had a long list of experience under his belt by the time he graduated — from Peace Corps and AmeriCorps to juvenile justice and MHMR.
Mata is now the social worker embedded with the Austin Development Services Code Compliance Team, a position created after a code abatement visit revealed a gap. When a homeowner experienced a mental health crisis with only code inspectors and police on scene, city leadership recognized a need for social workers. Elaine Garrett, assistant director of Code Compliance at Austin Development Services, had seen how the Austin Police Department integrated social workers and pushed to bring that model to Code Compliance. Mata was hired to build the program from the ground up.
The compliance team enforces zoning, building health and property maintenance ordinances to ensure public health and safety. Mata’s role as the social worker is to be a resource for homeowners and renters who have fallen out of compliance for any number of reasons or extenuating circumstances and simply need a hand, as we all do from time to time.
The work is community-based and home-visit-driven — about three visits a day, out in a city truck, meeting people where they are. Some visits are first-time intakes. Others are weekly case management sessions focused on helping clients understand and change the behaviors that led to a code violation. The way Mata sees it, a code violation is often just a signal that something in a person’s life has slipped, that a need has gone unmet. “We make sure Code Compliance is allowing space for people to catch their breath, get caught up,” he said.
He views his job as figuring out what that is and connecting people to help that’s available. From resources like the city’s Homeless Strategy Office, Integral Care, home repair grants and community organizations, Mata has mapped the landscape, so clients don’t have to navigate it alone.
The position is believed to be one of the few in the country focused specifically on renters and homeowners, rather than people experiencing homelessness. In his almost three years in the role, he’s already seen successes. “We’ve worked with clients on behavior change like reducing hoarding, cluttering and acquiring. We’ve also been able to get safety interventions for clients and even just get them to a point where they felt comfortable asking family and friends for help.”
Those steps may seem small, but avoiding escalation and abatement can keep many people on the road to progress.
This semester, Mata expanded his team with the program’s first practicum intern from UT Social Work. Kristin Metz, MSSW student, has joined him in the truck on home visits since starting her practicum in the fall of 2025.
Mata has been intentional about giving Metz the full range of experience — outreach, intakes and client interventions. He feels students who bring empathy, an open mind, and a willingness to problem solve will succeed and get a lot out of the experience.
“My practicum placement with Austin Development Services has been an amazing experience that has allowed me to develop a wide range of social work skills,” said Metz. “I am beyond grateful to have learned from the humanistic approach that Scott brings to his interactions with clients everyday and to help individuals identify and utilize their resources and strengths.”
Mata understands not only the value of the experience but also the value of the student’s time, knowledge and skill. He advocated for an intern stipend.
“I’m proud that Austin would take the chance to try a program like this that is so novel and person-centered,” said Mata. “There are so many clients that would not be getting help or services if we weren’t there at the home.” The macro and the micro, he says, have always informed each other — and this role puts both in play every day. It’s also, it turns out, a pretty good way to build a city.