An Austin Resource Recovery crew cleared debris from an abandoned encampment in Southeast Austin in early November. (Ben Thompson/Community Impact)
A three-week city initiative to clear public encampments and connect homeless residents with resources ended Nov. 8, after hundreds of locations around Austin were addressed and nearly 200 people moved into shelter.
"This initiative reflects the very best of what public service looks like -- departments working side by side as one team, guided by compassion and accountability," City Manager T.C. Broadnax said in a statement.
What happened
The temporary surge of resources led by Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations began in October to restore public spaces and relocate people in hard-to-reach or dangerous areas, given severe weather risks and ahead of the winter season.
The initiative coordinated by Austin's homelessness office involved the police, emergency medical services, transportation, parks, watershed protection, emergency management and animal services departments, as well as the county hospital district Central Health and nonprofit Integral Care.
The city-led encampment clearings took place under local and state laws that ban camping in public. City enforcement was "limited," according to AHSO, with advance notice to people living in encampments and voluntary offers of relocation and service connections. From Oct. 20-Nov. 8, city teams:"It's about more than clearing sites, it's about creating pathways to safety, stability, and dignity. The work accomplished over these past three weeks has strengthened our systems, improved coordination across departments, and reaffirmed our commitment to serving our most vulnerable neighbors,"AHSO Director David Gray said in a statement.The approach
Unrelated to the recent city program, state-led encampment cleanups in Austin were announced by Gov. Greg Abbott on Oct. 21. That operation led by the Texas Department of Public Safety also cleared dozens of encampments and thousands of pounds of debris, and resulted in several arrests.
The move drew local criticism, with officials saying Texas leaders didn't provide advance notice or attempt to coordinate with Austin on the operation. As of Nov. 7, Gray said state agencies had yet to engage with the city, and it was unclear whether state enforcement was continuing, although he'd heard reports of people in military attire entering encampments. DPS didn't respond to a request for comment about the operation's status or results as of press time.
A city spokesperson said Austin's operations were independent from the state's and that they couldn't comment on Texas' enforcement.
"While the City has extended multiple invitations to coordinate those efforts, no formal collaboration has occurred. The City remains committed to carrying out its legally required responsibilities in a manner that prioritizes outreach, safety, and compassion," they said in an email.
Encampment cleanups drew staff from across the city, with many pulled away from their typical duties to help with this fall's three-week process involving:Public resources were recently surged to both address priority encampments and offer services. Departments are currently calculating how much staff time and other resources were needed for the operation, which Gray said likely can't continue on a permanent basis given "eye-opening" costs.
"Obviously we have a mandate from 2021 to do cleanups, but we know that people are also concerned about the cost," he said during a November cleanup in Southeast Austin. "We'll have to take some good stock of what we were able to accomplish and then have an honest discussion of how many more of these intense efforts we can do moving forward with the resources that we have available to us."With the initiative now complete, AHSO returned to its normal encampment management strategy. An after-action report with data and recommendations for future efforts will be released in the next few months.
Gray also noted the need to address areas at highest risk of flooding or wildfire, and that city enforcement may become more proactive. He pointed to two late October deaths linked by police to stormwater, where people were "strongly encouraged" but not forced to leave a dangerous waterway area by local outreach workers, as an example.
"I think people question, 'Why are you doing this initiative?' We've always said we're doing it because of severe weather. We are in that stretch of the year now where these kind of random things can happen, and for that to happen the first week of our initiative was both a gut punch and a reality check," he said.
The action taken
As the encampment initiative was drawing to a close, City Council approved measures from council member José Velásquez to expand outreach to those living on the streets and launch a public encampment dashboard.
Soon, multiple agencies will develop a "prioritization, expansion and integration plan" aimed at shelter access, physical and mental health services, and other support. It'll also set a formal policy for outreach to encampments giving residents the chance to gather their belongings and receive aid -- processes already used by the city.
The encampment dashboard concept was modeled after similar data programs or audits out of Portland, Denver and Seattle. That work will include new ways for Austinites to log concerns about public encampments or homeless well-being through 3-1-1.
"These items are about strengthening how we show up. They aim to reduce harms and trauma that too often accompany outreach when housing opportunities or social services aren't available, and when transparency with our community partners is lacking during encampment management," Velásquez said Nov. 6. "I'll say this a thousand more times: We cannot lose the humanity in this conversation. We are talking about human beings, we are talking about our neighbors, and they deserve no less compassion or dignity than any other Austinites."Some work under those directives is already underway. A limited street outreach coordination and data-sharing pilot program ran this summer with positive results, Gray said, and will be used to build longer-term strategy.
The city also already maintains an internal encampment prioritization list based on populations and proximity to sensitive places like schools, daycares, highways or other risky locations. Today, AHSO takes encampment reports from multiple sources before they're ranked for closure.
Gray said Austin has a relationship with a mapping software company and is communicating with other cities on their data approaches. However, dashboard updates could be on hold while a strategic citywide technology reorganization and efficiency initiative plays out.
What they're saying
Before council members approved the two strategy resolutions, several residents who are or were experiencing homelessness testified on challenges and negative outcomes they experienced during cleanups.
One, Vincint Valentino, said he got less than an hour's notice to vacate his Riverside-area camp this fall and that many of his belongings, including personal documentation and a family member's ashes, were still hauled away. It wasn't clear whether that cleanup was city- or state-led.
"That day broke something inside me," he said. "Sweeps like these don't solve homelessness, they deepen it. They take away peoples' dignity, safety and the little bit of stability they've managed to build."
Austin's cleanups involve site assessments, posted notices and outreach attempts with information on operation timing, and data reporting on outcomes for residents. City teams "made every effort" to alert residents before encampments are cleared, Gray told council members, usually with at least 72 hours warning.
"People said, 'They came out three days ago and told us to get our stuff and offered us shelter. And I chose not to leave because I have nowhere else to go,'" he said. "I think the key piece there is that we were there three days in advance and gave people ample notification. And then even when we come on-site for the cleanup days, we still give people an extra 30 minutes to gather whatever they might not have gathered. But at some point, we do have to start the cleanup operation."