AUSTIN (KXAN) — After the city of Austin launched a homeless encampment cleanup surge last week, we now have the data on how the first week went.
According to a memo sent to city council and mayoral staff, the first week of that effort resulted in the following:
- 332 people engaged during outreach
- 51 people connected to shelter
- 33 people connected to other resources including health support
- Five “large operational zones fully cleared, containing 57 individual sites”
- More than 275,000 pounds of debris removed
- 24 citations issued and 11 arrests made
“These outcomes reflect the coordinated and compassionate approach guiding this initiative.
Outreach teams continue to engage directly with individuals ahead of cleanups to provide
information, offer shelter and services, and address barriers to housing whenever possible,” the memo from David Gray, Director of Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations, said.
State effort running parallel to city’s
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the state started an operation targeting homeless encampments in the city of Austin roughly a week and a half ago.
The governor’s office said the operation is being led by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) with help from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Texas State Guard and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).
One question KXAN had been asking the governor’s office all last week: When the state comes to clear out homeless encampments, where are people being relocated? During an early voting news conference Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott addressed that.
The governor said the state will “defer to Austin for the locations that they want to send them” but also said the state has prepared “different locations in the event that Austin is unable to provide them.” Abbott did not specify where those backup locations were.
“As you all probably know and maybe you’ve reported, the city of Austin is stepping up to help address the locations and we will defer to them as long as the homeless are being removed from the encampments,” Abbott said.
We have reported that the city offered to help Texas shelter people during encampment sweeps, as well as provide city resources. They told us they hadn’t heard back from the state on that offer.
“One individual referred to us by the State has been sheltered. To date, there has been no formal coordination from the State of Texas with the City of Austin regarding the Governor’s recently announced encampment management operations,” the city said in a response Monday.
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