Austin Homeless Free for All Ordinance

[Biff Tannen 45691]

We need more of this, or something like it.

https://mlf.org/community-first/

[Nonbryan 173]

10 minutes ago, dirtonia said:

A few blocks from my house, ground zero for homeless in souf Austin. I know they believe they’re helping, but Sunrise church was the lighting rod for that area becoming a shit show.

Pic from about 2 weeks ago in front of Whataburger at Ben White and Manacha, but doesn’t begin to capture the filth.

City leadership shoud be ashamed of themselves.

[Bozo_Casanova 26488]

21 minutes ago, Deej said:

https://austintexas.gov/page/learn-about-homelessness#

Good post, and look you are 100% right. And that reflects the reality that homelessness is not an either/or thing. It's a continuum that ranges from housing insecurity due to bad luck or income fragility at one end, and full time, permanent, chronic homelessness at the other. The majority of the people in the fragile end have somplace to stay most of the time. The others are the ones we're mostly talking about here. 

[Bozo_Casanova 26488]

4 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

We need more of this, or something like it.

https://mlf.org/community-first/

I agree. Also I read the domain name with an i in the middle, and I agree with that too. 

[Homercles 10206]

9 minutes ago, DonkeyCigars said:

Anyways @Homercles, I think you are not telling the truth or were in Franklin or Brentwood. The Gulch, both North and South sides, all of downtown, everywhere on Broadway from Riverfront all the way to Midtown, Music Row...all lousy with homelessness. It's a mini-Austin and it's horrible.

The only place the police seem to care about keeping them away is from the Parthenon and that's only during high traffic times.

It was over thanksgiving on 4th/Church, I took a walk every morning and it was nowhere near as bad as Austin.  A few dudes under the bridge on Woodland and along the river, but wasn’t a sea of tents, trash or aggressively approaching beggars like Austin seems.  Either I was early, lucky or truly didn’t see it all...no deception there, it was just stark coming back home seeing it under every underpass.  

[DonkeyCigars 143]

21 minutes ago, Homercles said:

It was over thanksgiving on 4th/Church, I took a walk every morning and it was nowhere near as bad as Austin.  A few dudes under the bridge on Woodland and along the river, but wasn’t a sea of tents, trash or aggressively approaching beggars like Austin seems.  Either I was early, lucky or truly didn’t see it all...no deception there, it was just stark coming back home seeing it under every underpass.  

Downtown it seems that there are less "tent cities" and egregious homeless paraphernalia, but more stoops, alleyways and doorways-- especially by churches and museums and civic buildings. Especially when it's cold like over Thanksgiving-- I think the homeless might have been taking cover. It gets much colder in Nashville. 

[MissingInAction 25106]

These campsites are a breeding ground for typhoid, cholera, and any other disease caused by a lack of sanitation.

[Guest Lobo]

What are you talking about?  The storm runoffs are clearly marked, "Runoff into the Barton Creek recharge.  No DUMPING." 

The homeless camps obviously pay attention to that environmental request.  Don't be so insensitive!  Why don't you care more!?!?!

If you really want to feel like you're back in Old Austin...watch the eastern end of that Ben White/Manchaca underpass.  If you sit through a couple of cycles, you'll almost always see somebody dumping a bucket of shit 'n piss into one of the storm drains.  Obviously the sign of somebody needing Mayor Adler's real estate chops.  

[crash_davis 23113]

24 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

These campsites are a breeding ground for typhoid, cholera, and any other disease caused by a lack of sanitation.

let's not kid ourselves that these campsites are of people who are on hard times looking for jobs and a home. they are full of drug addicts. they don't want housing because they have to stay clean or don't allow drug use. they don't care about anything other than doing stupid and thieving to get the next high.

fuck them and the assholes who allowed this shit to happen.

Edited March 10, 2021 by crash_davis

[Wally Pryor 5261]

5 hours ago, dirtonia said:

A few blocks from my house, ground zero for homeless in souf Austin. I know they believe they’re helping, but Sunrise church was the lighting rod for that area becoming a shit show.

Pic from about 2 weeks ago in front of Whataburger at Ben White and Manacha, but doesn’t begin to capture the filth.

 

Circle C compared to that under the 290 bridge west of Strait Music. 

[Willfully Horn 8027]

I’m going to make the claim that homeless camps under highways are preferable to homeless camps in the city’s parks and managed areas. If for not other reasons than public camps keep the clusterfuck visible, and relatively concentrated, and the highways are still functioning as a public asset. Unlike parkland and managed areas.

Camping in parks and other lands remains illegal, for what that’s worth.

[Homesickhorn 2202]

I’m not scrolling through this whole thread, but was the Ann Margaret question ever answered?

[ChickenSandwich 9843]

On 3/10/2021 at 10:52 AM, InkaUtexas said:

Drove past there taking the dog to the vet. Had not been in that part of Austin in a long time and was shocked. What also shocked me was a young (mid 20's) couple down on Town Lake setting up their tent. Both were in the latest hiking/camping clothes, had a pretty damn nice tent. Girlfriend commented they sure stand out. 

So if a visitor to Austin just wants to camp what would stop them? 

 

[Armybrat 40851]

Why is their shit tossed around and dumped to look like the bedroom in some Instagram sloot’s selfie?

[Blotto 23559]

thats a pretty pimp waterfront vista that guy's got going on. 

[futureman 22483]

1 hour ago, Blotto said:

thats a pretty pimp waterfront vista that guy's got going on. 

not for long. 

[BradInATX 9208]

4 hours ago, Blotto said:

thats a pretty pimp waterfront vista that guy's got going on. 

 

Nice little 80 sq ft house on town lake with a raised patio. Hear they're asking $800k for it and are getting offers around a mill.

[Red Five 40862]

Drove that stretch of Ben White by Dan's today. Yikes. That is.... wow.

I was stopped at the light at Packsaddle Pass and a homeless dude was crossing the street screaming at imaginary people. 

 

 

 

[mchookem 16336]

so i was downtown last week between Lamar and 1st, and it was honestly not as bad as i expected based on this thread, at least as far as i could see from Cesar Chavez. 

in Hawaii, right along the road in front of the most gorgeous beaches you've ever seen, will be a solid half mile of homeless tents/shacks. i learned that Hawaii has one of the highest homelessness rates in the country...climate and the wild chickens and fruits/veggies that just grown. anyway, sidetrack...

that's what i expected but it wasn't a long line of camps along the whole trail. there was a section around Nueces or San Antonio that had several tents/camps, but no worse than Ohlen/183 which i see every day. and it was well above the hike and bike trail, i expected it to be right on top. the trail was still in use.

so...it looked terrible, but not nearly as horrific as anticipated. just one person's perspective. the problem still needs a solution.  

[washparkhorn 9939]

2 hours ago, BradInATX said:

Nice little 80 sq ft house on town lake with a raised patio. Hear they're asking $800k for it and are getting offers around a mill.

Imagine what the Californians will pay for some tasteful infill work. 

[bigbevo76 64]

I noticed a group handing out bagged lunches to the bums en masse in my hood a few weeks ago. Really pissed me off. Want this shit fixed pronto?

Relocate a few of these folks to the underpasses off mopac: windsor, enfield, 45th, 2222. How a about along 360?

My point is the bleeding hearts that keep speaking down on us that want these bums moved don't have these mofos living down the street from them. Let me save you the trip to help, just head down the street.

They last straw are the BBQ grills they're using. I had a gas grill on an apartment patio 10 years ago and a notice was on my door from AFD the next day. Now you can roast a pig under a highway sending smoke billowing into traffic passing at no less that 65mph. That's cool.

Why not offer 1,000 cash and a bus ticket to anywhere you want out of the state of Texas? × 2,500 homeless that is only like 4m a year.



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[washparkhorn 9939]

2 hours ago, Red Five said:

Drove that stretch of Ben White by Dan's today. Yikes. That is.... wow.

I was stopped at the light at Packsaddle Pass and a homeless dude was crossing the street screaming at imaginary people. 

 

 

 

Where was EMS?

Anyone call those tasked with helping humans in this type of crisis?

This isn't rocket surgery. It's not police work.

Same rules for homeless as any other human. If they are on the ground screaming or walking around screaming, one should call EMS/Fire and whomever partners with that service. Let the professionals handle it. 

Job No. 1 - We have to let the professionals know when we see someone in distress . . . so they can do their jobs. It may be a quick fix for the person and neighborhood in distress. 

[Bob Lives! 914]

Where was EMS?
Anyone call those tasked with helping humans in this type of crisis?
This isn't rocket surgery. It's not police work.
Same rules for homeless as any other human. If they are on the ground screaming or walking around screaming, one should call EMS/Fire and whomever partners with that service. Let the professionals handle it. 
Job No. 1 - We have to let the professionals know when we see someone in distress . . . so they can do their jobs. It may be a quick fix for the person and neighborhood in distress. 

Not that you’re wrong, but have you driven around central Austin? If we called 911 every time we saw an apparent transient walking around in mental distress, we’d have to call 911 on almost every trip. It’s like there’s this sort personal line of discomfort that has to be crossed before it’s subjectively becomes an emergent situation. Crazy people in the streets has become the norm.


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[Wally Pryor 5261]

On 3/20/2021 at 7:19 PM, Red Five said:

Drove that stretch of Ben White by Dan's today. Yikes. That is.... wow.

If you're driving that stretch of Ben White from 290 to 35 you damn sure better keep the speed down and your eyes on the road.  Had a guy last Thursday AM hop over the little concrete median heading eastbound just past the Strait Music area.  Out of nowhere.  He didn't get into traffic, least I didn't see.  I think there's been 3 pedestrian fatalities in that general South Austin area in the last 12-18 months so best to pay attention.   Keep an eye out - could fuck up someone else's life and yours as well.  

Edited March 22, 2021 by Wally Pryor

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

On 3/20/2021 at 10:31 PM, bigbevo76 said:

Why not offer 1,000 cash and a bus ticket to anywhere you want out of the state of Texas? × 2,500 homeless that is only like 4m a year.



 

Well you'd have to monitor, it otherwise you'd have a revolving door of people collecting the cash and then coming right back.

[bigbevo76 64]

Well you'd have to monitor, it otherwise you'd have a revolving door of people collecting the cash and then coming right back.

No problem, just do it again. Even if you did it for all of them twice a year your still under 10m to fix the problem. If you want you could just check their name against the spreadsheet record of previous bus ticket purchases and deny then a second go around if you want.

Maybe sent them to either coast so the road back to Austin is that much further and not worth it.

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[ChickenSandwich 9843]

Underpass Tent city at 183/ Oltorf had a full on neighborhood going. All tents are very nice looking (approximately 12 4-8 person tents). All of the concrete has been cleared of trash, and three even had their mower in their front yard. Wonder what their HOA fees are?

[Enchubben 5510]

3 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Underpass Tent city at 183/ Oltorf had a full on neighborhood going. All tents are very nice looking (approximately 12 4-8 person tents). All of the concrete has been cleared of trash, and three even had their mower in their front yard. Wonder what their HOA fees are?

not to worry - no need for HOA, that's all included in YOUR property tax bill. 

[MissingInAction 25106]

Are evictions back in Austin now? I ask because I am seeing fresh faces hauling shit around and they look like they have showered this week.

[lmao 178]

I don't live in Austin so forgive me for the naive question but when did homelessness start becoming a problem? I don't remember tent cities 10 years ago. 

[hornian 5219]

2 hours ago, lmao said:

I don't live in Austin so forgive me for the naive question but when did homelessness start becoming a problem? I don't remember tent cities 10 years ago. 

It started to be this visible when the public camping ordinance was reworded to not make it a crime. 

It went through the roof last year when Austin basically said "we aren't going to even enforce what is on the books due to COVID"

[BottleRocket 646]

Nm

[Chet Steadman 940]

The historical Buford Tower is on fire right now due to a homeless camp fire gone wrong.  

So that’s cool

[MAUFRAIS 6629]

we should put adler up in there like the wicker man.

[Abogado Peligroso 89]

lmao is a troll i think?

[phdhorn 6224]

Just working out their mental issues, nothing to see here.  ¡Viva Greg Casar!

[Wally Pryor 5261]

Jesus Christ. Let the bums burn all the stupid-ass decorative grackels they want. But not this.

[smokebomb 357]

Does FitLump even know that the city council is responsible for the camping situation?

 

[Enchubben 5510]

The bums are literally burning the city down, piece by piece. 

Maybe The Big Lebowski was wrong? The bums don’t always lose?

[wood 11227]

3 hours ago, Chet Steadman said:

The historical Buford Tower is on fire right now due to a homeless camp fire gone wrong.  

So that’s cool

Yep. Old AFD training tower.

Y'all wouldn't believe how many of these fires there are & how many get out of control, endanger other 'campers', burn up their belongings, and endanger businesses & homes. At one of them a couple of weeks ago, they had been squatting in an empty commercial building on Cesar Chavez and set it on fire. When AFD showed up one of them apparently assaulted a firefighter trying to enter the structure.

Fires, trash piles, public safety & health hazards, etc. It seems that when the city decided to let homeless folks camp wherever, they also decided to let them do whatever the hell else they want to do, too.  

Edited April 2, 2021 by wood

[BrazilHorn 6612]

The crazy thing to me is the complete suspension of all law enforcement when it comes to homeless people.

If I littered, started fires, shit in public etc etc I would be fined, arrested & jailed.

I get letting folks have their camps and I have empathy for people truly experiencing homelessness but I don't know why we suspend every other law associated with being part of a society.

[wood 11227]

2 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

The crazy thing to me is the complete suspension of all law enforcement when it comes to homeless people.

If I littered, started fires, shit in public etc etc I would be fined, arrested & jailed.

I get letting folks have their camps and I have empathy for people truly experiencing homelessness but I don't know why we suspend every other law associated with being part of a society.

Yep. My point exactly. And I just don't see how this move does anything to help the homeless people they're supposedly trying to help. If anything, it's unnecessarily caused a lot of animosity toward them, from many people who held little or no ill feelings toward them before.

[dcar00 14269]

3 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

The crazy thing to me is the complete suspension of all law enforcement when it comes to homeless people.

If I littered, started fires, shit in public etc etc I would be fined, arrested & jailed.

I get letting folks have their camps and I have empathy for people truly experiencing homelessness but I don't know why we suspend every other law associated with being part of a society.

inch, mile, and all that but mainly because our city leaders are complete and utter mouthbreathing morons...

[Kyle 207]

3 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

The crazy thing to me is the complete suspension of all law enforcement when it comes to homeless people.

If I littered, started fires, shit in public etc etc I would be fined, arrested & jailed.

I get letting folks have their camps and I have empathy for people truly experiencing homelessness but I don't know why we suspend every other law associated with being part of a society.

Because we have surrendered to morons who think twitter reflects reality.

[hayden_horn 11362]

so i remember when homeless people fires occurred in woods behind gas stations on 290.

generally i have a lot of empathy for homeless people, much of it learned doing the census in 2010.

but when i saw the news this morning, and when i see landmarks burning down...we need to do something else. last month, my wife and i went downtown and i saw all those tents along cesar chavez and on the hike and bike trail...they are losing me. it's horrible.

we need to do something else.

[956 Worldwide 34715]

4 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

The crazy thing to me is the complete suspension of all law enforcement when it comes to homeless people.

If I littered, started fires, shit in public etc etc I would be fined, arrested & jailed.

I get letting folks have their camps and I have empathy for people truly experiencing homelessness but I don't know why we suspend every other law associated with being part of a society.

Law enforcement would mess up your life, ergo it is a deterrent. You have money to take away and putting you in jail would be clearly worse than wherever you are sleeping now.  
 

You can’t take money away from bums and putting a bum in jail is a step up for the bum in a lot of ways.  The only way to deal with this is to make camping, vagrancy, littering, open fires extremely unpleasant in the moment for the people doing it.

Edited April 2, 2021 by 956 Worldwide

[Kyle 207]

46 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

so i remember when homeless people fires occurred in woods behind gas stations on 290.

generally i have a lot of empathy for homeless people, much of it learned doing the census in 2010.

but when i saw the news this morning, and when i see landmarks burning down...we need to do something else. last month, my wife and i went downtown and i saw all those tents along cesar chavez and on the hike and bike trail...they are losing me. it's horrible.

we need to do something else.

A rare breed that recognize when stupid ideas are stupid. (no sarcasm)

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that letting mentally and emotional ill addicts run loose is not good public policy. They need to be institutionalized and rehabilitated. That's the only practical solution. Optimistically, many can be returned to society as healthy, functioning adults. For those that can't, provide a safe, long-term institutional existence.

Edited April 2, 2021 by Kyle

[Bozo_Casanova 26488]

51 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

so i remember when homeless people fires occurred in woods behind gas stations on 290.

generally i have a lot of empathy for homeless people, much of it learned doing the census in 2010.

but when i saw the news this morning, and when i see landmarks burning down...we need to do something else. last month, my wife and i went downtown and i saw all those tents along cesar chavez and on the hike and bike trail...they are losing me. it's horrible.

we need to do something else.

For the record- the state homeless camp in SE Austin coincidentally burned last night too, but yeah, agreed. 
I think these two views can co-exist:

1) camping (IOW, simply being homeless) should not be a criminal act.

2) camping should not be legal in the majority of public public places.  
 

I don’t think that’s even terribly controversial, but the factions are dug in at this point and combined with the police not enforcing existing law effectively for whatever reasons this has become a health and safety crisis, mainly for the homeless themselves.

Edited April 2, 2021 by Bozo_Casanova

[TKthunder2 4992]

5 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Law enforcement would mess up your life, ergo it is a deterrent. You have money to take away and putting you in jail would be clearly worse than wherever you are sleeping now.  
 

You can’t take money away from bums and putting a bum in jail is a step up for the bum in a lot of ways.  The only way to deal with this is to make camping, vagrancy, littering, open fires extremely unpleasant in the moment for the people doing it.

You arrest them and they lose their piles of shit and when they get out they have to start all over.  It’s a deterrent.  We need a better solution but not arresting them should never be the official policy especially when they are violent or destructive.

[956 Worldwide 34715]

6 minutes ago, TKthunder2 said:

You arrest them and they lose their piles of shit and when they get out they have to start all over.  It’s a deterrent.  We need a better solution but not arresting them should never be the official policy especially when they are violent or destructive.

There should be consequences, but there’s little to gain with a formal arrest and getting into the system which will just cost money and make it harder to ever reintegrate.  Start with a housing first program like Houston (which has done wonders there) and combine it with zero tolerance for camping and urban campfires. You do that and your shit gets thrown away and you get a ride to the county line.

For Housing First, some sort of sorting over why you are in Austin. Family? From there? Had a job once? Ok.

Just showed up and have never worked or had housing? You get a bus ticket, tell us where.