Gov. Greg Abbott renewed his criticism of Austin officials and their handling of homelessness in the Texas capital in tweets Saturday referencing a KEYE-TV/CBS Austin report of a stabbing the night before.
The report said a man was stabbed in the elbow late Friday near the intersection of East Eighth Street and Interstate 35, near Austin police headquarters.
A witness at the scene believed the person who stabbed the man was homeless, according to the report.
Abbott shared the CBS Austin report in his tweet early Saturday, saying again that Austin’s homeless policies are “dangerous for everyone.”
Abbott tweeted many times last year, slamming the Austin City Council’s changes to its laws regarding where people can camp and sleep in the city.
Last June, the council largely rescinded a camping ban aimed at people living on the streets, but it then voted in October to restore parts of it.
The new ban does not allow encampments on sidewalks, near the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless in downtown Austin and near business doorways. However, camps under overpasses, where many of the largest encampments sprouted after the original ban was repealed, was not included in October’s ban.
Dozens of people experiencing homelessness were displaced in November after Abbott ordered Texas Department of Transportation workers to clear more than a dozen encampments under overpasses. The governor also picked a vacant lot in Southeast Austin near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to serve as a temporary living space for those displaced by cleanups.
Abbott said Saturday he has a four-step solution to solve homelessness in Austin, but the city “doesn’t have the leadership to do this.”
Those steps included opening large shelters, providing mental health and drug addiction treatment, job training skills and focusing on long-term housing. He did not elaborate in his tweets on how the resources could be provided.
Fixing homelessness in ATX is easy.
1. Put public safety first.
2. Open large shelters that can accommodate > 200 people.
3. Provide mental health, drug addiction help + job training skills.
4. Then focus on long term housing.
Austin doesn’t have the leadership to do this.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) February 1, 2020
Yet ANOTHER stabbing in downtown Austin.
Austin’s policies are not compassionate for the homeless or anyone else.
Their policies are dangerous for everyone.
You can expect the legislature to once again override Austin’s reckless policies. #txlege https://t.co/3tsUecpgpv
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) February 1, 2020
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