Austin must balance public safety with efforts to address homelessness
It’s been 14 months since the Austin City Council last amended ordinances governing camping and sitting/lying in public places. Not surprisingly, over the past year, the issue of homelessness has become more visible across the city and in downtown Austin.
An active petition urges a return to the original ordinances, which prohibited people from sleeping or camping in many public areas. But the solution is not as simple as reverting back to these ordinances. Austin urgently needs a balanced approach and an actionable plan to address the crisis of homelessness.
The Downtown Austin Alliance is committed to ensuring that downtown is a safe and welcoming place for everyone. Since its inception in 1993, the organization has worked through its advocacy, direct services and funding to improve public safety and to address homelessness. Over the past 10 years, the organization has committed millions of dollars to increase police resources downtown, led initiatives such as creation of the Homeless Outreach Street Team (HOST) and funded projects that provide housing and services for people experiencing homelessness, including Community First! Village, Integral Care’s Terrace at Oak Springs and The Salvation Army Rathgeber Center.
Last year, the Downtown Alliance, the Austin Chamber of Commerce and faith-based leaders formed ATX Helps to raise private funds for an innovative approach to provide immediate emergency shelter, storage and outreach services. The effort stalled, as it involved a large tent-like structure intended to house up to 150 individuals, which is no longer feasible given the current pandemic.
We approach the challenge of homelessness knowing that the answers are complicated. Allowing people to camp virtually anywhere is not helpful to anyone — including those experiencing homelessness. In 2005, the Downtown Alliance supported city management’s recommendation, which Austin City Council backed, that resulted in the ordinances becoming more restrictive. The ordinances were intended to be tools to regulate camping, sitting/lying in public and aggressive solicitation. However, we’ve learned that ordinances don’t solve homelessness if they’re not accompanied by appropriate mental health services, adequate levels of shelter, housing and other resources.
The ordinances, void of a complete support system, create a cycle that taxes other city services and fails to solve the community’s most pressing issue. It is our duty and that of our elected leaders to ensure that our shared public spaces are safe and healthy for everyone’s use. It is also incumbent upon us all to effectively address the needs of people experiencing homelessness. These objectives, though very challenging to achieve, are not mutually exclusive.
Last year, Austin City Council more than doubled the city’s budget for homelessness — adding about $32 million to address this top city priority. Yet $31 million of this additional funding was unspent, in large part, because we don’t have a complete, actionable plan where government entities, nonprofit service providers, private sector businesses and the broader community have defined roles to help tackle homelessness. ECHO’s 2018 Action Plan to End Homelessness provides a solid foundation, but we must update it by incorporating current priorities and establishing key metrics and accountability measures. Most importantly, we need to put the plan into action.
Focusing on the ordinances and failing to prevent and reduce unsheltered homelessness has divided our community and fueled an ongoing debate. All the while, more people are experiencing the trauma and crisis of being homeless, and for longer periods of time. The sad reality is that over the course of the past year, 256 people died homeless on our streets — a 40% increase over the prior year.
The time is now to refocus efforts toward solving the crisis of homelessness. The Downtown Austin Alliance is working with our elected officials, social service and private sector leadership to develop an actionable plan with specific steps that will be advanced starting in early 2021.
It is essential that we have an actionable plan providing safe places for people to be and solutions for homelessness that aligns with ordinances to effectively improve public health and safety, and to solve the humanitarian crisis that affects more than 2,500 people on any given day here in our beloved city.
Peart is the president and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance.
