Downtown Austin Homeless Encampment To Be Demolished | Downtown Austin, TX Patch

AUSTIN, TX — Amid growing pressure from the governor for Austin to toughen its rules related to people living on the streets, police are scheduled to inform homeless members of a downtown encampment their makeshift community will be demolished by next week, Patch has learned.

Members of law enforcement, city officials and advocates for the homeless have quietly been meeting in the past few days at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) building on 500 E. 7th St. to develop strategies on dealing with the growing homeless problem, a well-placed source told Patch.

To that end, those living in tents across the ARCH — which serves as the first point of entry into the social service system — will be displaced from the makeshift shantytown of sorts that has popped up since the city council relaxed the rules related to the homeless. "Most of them are not our clients," a source working at the ARCH building said. "Some are people who don't use our shelter but hang out."

Tents set up on Neches Street between 7th and 8th streets will be collapsed ahead of police enforcement action scheduled for next Monday, according to the source. Before next week's planned police enforcement, social workers will begin informing residents living in tents along the corridor of plans to demolish the makeshift community and their subsequent displacement.

A trash bin will be delivered to the site, and people will be given the chance to voluntarily dispose of items, the source said. Police, though, will eventually ensure everything gets removed.

Patch reached out to the Austin Police Department for comment, but officials did not immediately respond.

According to information provided to Patch, police Chief Brian Manley was not among those at a meeting with 15 top-ranking department officials last Monday. On Friday morning, ARCH hosted a three-hour meeting with virtually every community organization dealing with the homeless — Front Steps, Caritas, CommUnityCare and others — with some 60 people in attendance at the ARCH cafeteria, Patch was told.

Also in attendance for the latter meeting was Congressman Chip Roy, a Republican lawmaker representing the state's 21st congressional district. The district encompasses a wide swath of territory, from the area north of San Antonio to a significant portion of Austin. Some speculated Roy might have been there as a surrogate for Gov. Greg Abbott — who in the last few days has intensified his demands that Austin rethink its decision to relax rules on the homeless.

The rules were relaxed in an effort to decriminalize homelessness — police long had issued tickets for sitting or lying on sidewalks or setting up tents. Now homeless people are allowed on sidewalks as long as they're not obstructing pedestrians' paths, though city crews recently have narrowed sidewalks close to the ARCH to deter homeless people from using them to sit or lie down. The loosened rules also allow for homeless people to set up camp, although a ban on doing so in parks and other recreation areas is still in effect.

Related stories:

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• UT-Austin Police Oppose City Steps To Decriminalize Homelessness

The governor has been a vocal critic of the Austin City Council's decision to relax the rules, threatening to use state intervention if necessary to enforce stricter rules. In his second letter to Austin Mayor Steve Adler last week, Abbott demanded Austin rescind the new rules and implement the tougher previous standards.

"Today I sent a letter to @MayorAdler about the growing crisis arising from the Austin homeless policy," Abbott wrote on Twitter. "Feces & used needles are piling up & residents are endangered. If not fixed by Nov. 1, I'll use State authority to protect Texans' health & safety."

Today I sent a letter to @MayorAdler about the growing crisis arising from the Austin Homeless policy. Feces & used needles are piling up & residents are endangered. If not fixed by Nov.1, I'll use State authority to protect Texans' health & safety.#txlege pic.twitter.com/KmvEtMW81T
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) October 2, 2019

Tent community members often fall prey to predatory tactics

Before the new rules, the homeless were often hit with fines for violating the old rule. But the fines are unlikely to ever get paid, council members reasoned, and only add stress to an already taxed, vulnerable population.

Yet according to the well-placed source, council's good intentions have had unintended consequences that are vividly illustrated along Neches Street — something of a ground zero for homelessness in Austin. As one approaches the area, the stench of urine is almost overpowering. Even before the new rules went into effect, homeless people often gathered outside the ARCH — many of them not even clients of the agency. Now the artery is dotted with tents serving as makeshift housing.

Some members of the sprung-up community use drugs — some smoking crack, but others using the dangerous synthetic drug K2. The drug is cheap — $2 a hit — an amount easily acquired through panhandling. While K2 is billed as mimicking the effects of marijuana, some users are overcome by its potency, and can end up in the emergency room as a result. Sometimes, those taking K2 find all their belongings have been stolen by the time they come to, a homeless advocate told Patch.

The K2 scourge is not new, but the tent community has yielded a steady source of clientele for those selling it, Patch learned. Evidence of prostitution also has been detected, the source said.

In search of a 'compassionate solution'

Given these grim facts of homeless life on the streets, homeless advocates are pushing the marginalized into securing housing, urging people to avail themselves of ample resources to accomplish the goal. A variety of amenities designed help the homeless is offered at the ARCH building — shower facilities, meals, clothing, health care and more. When demolition of the encampment is concluded next week, nighttime shelter will be provided for up to 130 men at the site as a temporary option, the source told Patch.

The "Housing First" initiative is a relatively recent innovation in human service programs and social policy regarding treatment of people who are homeless, viewed as an alternative to a system of emergency shelter and/or transitional housing.

Social workers interacting with with the homeless community continually remind people of this goal with each encounter via buttons worn on their shirts emblazoned with the question: "What's your housing plan?"

In addition to helping them find housing, advocates look to address any of their clients' psychological or substance abuse issues.

Many of the chronically homeless suffer from mental illness, but it's difficult to stick to a medication regimen when living on the streets. Housing promotes stability, which enhances chances afflicted people will stick with their medication, advocates say.

"Out on the street, it's hard to be compliant with psychological medications," the ARCH worker told Patch. "They can't get a job or save money for housing."

The imminent demolition of the tent community might seem extreme, the source suggested, but it will mark the first measurable step toward a "compassionate solution" to the scourge of homelessness in Austin.

"The key is to help them find permanent housing," Patch was told. "But it's also to support the community in not becoming besieged with health problems."