(Credit: KLBJ staff)
The City of Austin will meet twice this week to discuss proposed restrictions on where homeless individuals can camp, sit, and lie. It’s a debate that has only gained momentum since the council approved changes to the homeless ordinance this year — a decision which has led to a rapid rise in the number of homeless camps that are visible to the public eye.
Council will meet on Wednesday and Friday to discuss the proposed changes. Areas which have been discussed include most of downtown, West Campus, on roadsides adjacent to heavy vehicle traffic, and densely populated sidewalks and other walkways. The council has made it very clear, however, that despite a growing public call for the complete reversal of the decision to allow public camping virtually anywhere, the city intends to continue to allow people to live in campsites anywhere beyond the geographical boundaries of these new bans that may be implemented.
Mayor Steve Adler told KLBJ recently he will support the options that provide the most safety and dignity.
“Certainly it is safer for somebody to be under an overpass than it is for them to be camping on a busy sidewalk or to be camping in a traffic island, or a median,” he said.
City leaders are expected to specify the areas of downtown in which a camping ban may be imposed, as well as similar areas in West Campus.
“We need to work with the University of Texas concerning issues there in the same way we need to work with the University of Texas on issues like housing and mobility,” Adler said.
One of the biggest arguments made in favor of changing the homeless ordinances this summer was to protect people living on the street from falling into a cycle of debt and jail time. Activists and city council members alike argued that continuing to ticket people for camping or hanging out in public was “criminalizing” homelessness. The city council’s Wednesday agenda specifically states it will “Discuss and take possible action on an ordinance related to City Code Sections 9-4-11 (Camping in Public Area Prohibited) and 9-4-14 (Obstruction in the Downtown Austin Community Court Area Prohibited); and creating an offense.”
