Gov. Abbott directs DPS, state guard to clean up homeless encampments in Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that the state started an operation targeting homeless encampments in the city of Austin last week.

Since then, the state said it has:

• Removed 48 encampments
• Removed over 3,000 pounds of debris
• Arrested 24 repeat felony offenders
• Seized over 125 grams of narcotics

“Texans should not endure public safety risks from homeless encampments and individuals,” said Abbott. “Weapons, needles, and other debris should not litter the streets of our community, and the State of Texas is taking action. I directed state agencies to address this risk and make Austin safer and cleaner for residents and visitors to live, travel, and conduct business.”

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).

Video sent to KXAN by the governor’s office shows DPS troopers contacting and arresting people in those camps. It also shows what appear to be Texas State Guard cleaning up debris. That video is at the top of this story.

In response, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson pointed to recent successes the city has had reducing the homelessness population in Austin and nodded to the city council’s recent decision to approve a budget and tax rate that, if approved by voters in November, would fully fund the city’s homelessness plan to do more of that work.

“Our continuing success has come with limited financial assistance from the state. It’s hard to not appreciate some state resources being put into helping. I do worry about where people will end up, where the next encampment will be. My hope is that this exercise will demonstrate the value of providing funding resources as assistance for addressing this humanitarian crisis in the state capital,” Watson responded in-part.

The governor’s office said that operation would be ongoing and that “homeless individuals violating state law or local ordinances will continue to be arrested. Debris created by homeless encampments will continue to be removed.”

Austin also launched encampment surge Monday

Starting Monday, the city of Austin independently launched a homeless encampment surge, which is scheduled to last for roughly three weeks, according to a memo from Director of Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations David Gray.

According to another memo obtained by KXAN after the first day of that surge, the city cleaned up 46 encampments and visited 29 more for outreach on Monday.

“Most people agreed to leave voluntarily, and staff connected several people to shelter and/or additional services. One person received life-saving CPR from an APD team. Two arrests were made: one for criminal trespass and resisting arrest, and one for a drug-related charge,” that memo said.

Gray said the city is doing it now to get people out of risky spaces ahead of the fall and winter, which can have more severe and dangerous weather conditions. The city is also concerned about heightened fire danger at the moment.

An internal communication about the initiative, provided to KXAN, said the city will focus on the following moving forward:

• Week 1: Freeways, frontage roads, high-traffic corridors, and adjacent alleyways and
  pedestrian/bike trails
• Week 2: Certain street levels, neighborhood parks and playgrounds, public library campuses and recreation areas
• Week 3: Large greenbelts and parks that pose major wildfire risks

“Multiple City departments are assigning staff to one of 12 crews working across three geographic zones in the City. The City is also stopping general intake at City-owned shelters to devote to this initiative,” that document said.

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